A Talented Liar
by Delirium.in.dreams
Summary: Loki. God of Mischief. God of Lies. After his great fall from Asgard, Loki begins to pick up the pieces the only way he knows how - still unable to face the man in the mirror. Midgard is his second chance... but does redemption or despair await him?
1. Chapter 1: The Fall

In the infinite space between universes and realms, princes and paupers - this particular story had been told countless times before. His entire life has been a lie, and it's entirely possible that he should have seen it before. He's so much smarter than this. ** _I should have seen it coming. _**The thought occurs to him as he tries to clear his mind to find solace in the emptiness. Now with nothing more left to lose, this seems the cruelest thing of all.

Loki has lost track of time as he falls further and further away from the indistinguishable point in the distance that was once his home. His body aches, but the pain is relative to the aching emptiness in his heart.

There is a strange tingling sensation skimming over the edge of his cold and numbed muscles. It feels like watching a storm roll away in the distance, your hair and nerves reacting to the tension of a power beyond your grasp. He only hesitates a moment before he lets go of his mental link to Asgard completely. When it eventually stops, he can't help feeling like he has lost something. Perhaps his mind.

He loses consciousness so slowly that he isn't even aware the last time he shuts his eyes. If he had, he might remember the look on the All-Father's face. His last disappointment. He would have felt a bolt of panic as his body shattered against something solid.

Instead he wakes, cold and broken in a vast, empty place. The sun feels like an oppressive enemy bearing down on him, and he allows himself a moment to give in and feel it. His exposed hands and face feel as if they are radiating heat. His throat is parched, and it hurts to swallow.

He will never see his home again. Or his family. He had gambled on their love, and he had lost. Even if the sun hadn't stolen the last of his tears, he had no more left to cry.

**_Loki Laufeyson_.** What a joke.

He pulls himself upright in small, painful movements and takes stock of his surroundings. The air is thinner here, and the sun feels crude and unrefined in the way it blasts out waves of heat. There are mountains in the distance, but between there and here, as far as his eye can see there is just bland, featureless sand.

**_Enough of this_.**

He stands.

There are many types of power in the universe. Some feel like strength and power in your hands. But they, like Mjolnir, had always been beyond his grasp. No, Loki had stumbled upon his power within - in a dark and claustrophobic space in his soul. It felt cold to the touch, like a piece of metal hurtling through the dark recesses of space, so dense and compressed that it is ever ready to collapse in on itself. He draws on his power like one draws poison from a wound. He must nurture the poison that threatens to destroy him, and in turn it sustains him. The process is excruciating - but the power, euphoric.

A cruel, crooked smile slides across his lips. He _will_ start again. By the time he hears the distant, mechanical cough of an engine, he can feel the power coursing through his veins.

Loki looks up to the sky and throws out his arms triumphantly. "Do you hear me Heimdall? Tell them I'm. Still. Here!"

"Thor?" calls a voice from the van in the distance. It is still too far off to see clearly who the speaker is, and Loki gambles on the fact that he too cannot clearly be seen. He crouches defensively, so that his back is towards the approaching strangers and pulls his cape around him.

_**Midgard -of all places.**_

That must be where he's landed. He is not entirely disappointed because its inhabitants are primitive and no real threat and he could certainly use the time to regroup. A plan begins to form in his mind.

"Thor!" Jane nearly collides with the door as she jumps out of the van and hurtles towards the figure in the circle. "I thought... I thought..."

Her step falters for a moment as he stands and she catches a glimpse of the glinting armour and bright red cape. The word "god" throws her world off kilter again because it sounds as ridiculous as ever. But her feet have a mind of their own, and she half trips, half launches herself into his embrace.

"I thought..." Jane realizes her ability to speak has been reduced to a handful of syllables. She laughs, so girl-like and free, disentangling her arms from his in order to regain her composure.

"It's good... _SO_ good... so _GREAT_ to see you again."

Loki smiles, despite himself. She feels so small and fragile in his arms, and yet when she talks it seems as if all the world could not contain her vitality.

**_Thor's woman_.**

"Did everything go ok? I mean, it took a while and I was worried and I was starting to think you were never coming back, but..." she breathes as if she has just remembered how, "here you are."

**_Everything_,** she says. How vague and yet all-encompassing. Loki tries not to think of **_everything_**, or **_anything_** for that matter. This time a genuine smile, that doesn't require the veneer of the apparition, spreads across his face.

**_Well, how else would you convince anyone you were Thor?_**

"Everything's just fine. I've taken care of it. We won't have to worry about my brother for a good long time."

He places his arm around her shoulder because, **_why not?_** And together they walk towards the van. Jane talks animatedly about the research she is doing for Shield, questioning him incessantly about the bridge. Loki smiles serenely, cheerfully deflecting her questions and taking it all in.

**_Everything's just fine._**

* * *

**A/N:**

**This is my first ever fic, so I definitely appreciate any advice on formatting/notations/etc. Along with reviews/comments in general.**

**As far as the storyline, this is not explicitly going to be a pairing (though, as a story about Loki rediscovering relationships and coming to terms with feeling neglected, it's not out of the realm of possibility).**

**It is set in the larger expanded Marvel/Avengers universe, BUT is by and large restricted to Thor itself. Meaning we have SHIELD, who are working towards The Avengers, but the Avengers have not assembled just yet.**

**Oh, and be warned. I absolutely adore Loki/Tom Hiddleston, but Loki wouldn't be Loki without a legit mean/mischievious streak. Expect things to get f-ed up, and a few egos to get bruised.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Last Peaceful Afternoon

When he wakes, he remembers things in waves that slowly creep up on him.

The Frost Giants. Odin's betrayal.

Thor ruining everything. Again.

Falling, and falling, and falling.

And Jane.

Loki sits up clumsily because his body feels foreign and heavy, as if he has slept in his armour. He hasn't, of course, because the air is warm on his bare shoulders and so tangible he can almost smell the desert sun on his skin. His pants... well not HIS pants, are surprisingly comfortable. He dangles his legs over the edge of the bed... well not HIS legs.

Loki sighs because besides the sheer convenience and amusement factor provided by the ability to shapeshift, there is ONE glaring drawback. If he does not hold his focus, his mind instinctively rejects what he sees, and he risks slipping back to his old form.

There is a small mirror off to the side of his bed, and he has to steel himself before he turns to face it. He expects to see the wild blond hair and clear blue eyes. They are both familiar, and at the same time completely foreign in this particular context. What he does not expect is the weary sadness reflected back at him in those eyes, or the slump of his broad shoulders that suggests a weighty burden.

"Hey, big guy. How's it going?"

He turns to see a young girl staring up at him from the doorway, her eyes wide and a big grin on her face.

"Jane's friend?" He says the words carefully, trying to sounds like he's confirming rather than asking for the answer.

"Well yes, but... Darcy. So much easier." She eyes him hungrily, but her expression borderlines on parody so he reads it as some kind of friendliness instead of... well. He self-consciously rubs his arm until she points to a clean shirt thrown over the back of a chair, winks, and disappears into the other room.

"Right," he mutters to himself. This is not what he remembers from the last time he impersonated his brother, but that involved a great deal more placating his father and playing pranks on Sif than anything. Though perhaps not in that order exactly...

Now properly dressed, Loki emerges to the bright sunlit room. There are empty tables standing, purposeless, around the room and Darcy sits at a rickety table in the middle, completely engrossed with a small device that she pokes at.

Her face lights up when she sees him. "Nice! Though it does make you wonder what kind of crazy doctor Donny must have been to fit into that, right?"

The name flicks past him before he catches it, but it doesn't seem important because a series of notes from her device distracts her again.

"Jane's been bugging me all morning, which is POINTLESS because I mean - last time you fell from the sky AND we hit you with the van a couple of times, and that still didn't stop you at all so..."

Loki realizes he must look a little dazed, as he takes in his surroundings, because Darcy starts to walk towards him hesitantly as if to steady him.

"Yeah, also pointless, because what exactly would I do if you fell over? Nothing. Exactly." Despite her words she doesn't back away, instead shepherding him to a chair using a shooing motion. When he's settled she returns to her own chair.

"So... what happened to Meow-meow?" she makes a little swinging motion with her hands.

"Mjolnir," Loki corrects, absent-mindedly. This particular problem had occurred to him already, but his strength and magic are powerful enough on this planet that he felt he could get away without conjuring a copy of his brother's toy. "It, as much as any of us, is a servant of Asgard. It belongs where it can protect its people."

Darcy nods, though it is clear he could have said "Not here" and that would have been just as acceptable.

"But you went crazy looking for it last time, and were all..." she made a deflating noise and let her arms loose imitating what he assumed was a mortal Thor, "And then you left as soon as you got it. What was up with that anyways?"

Loki doesn't answer, but instead reaches across the table and pulls an open book towards him. Books in general catch his eye, and this one is open to a picture of his brother's toy.

He would never understand humans.

"Check it out, you're in here too!" Darcy yanks the book back long enough to flip to a page with a brutish looking man in armour. Loki smiles.

"I don't look the brightest of sorts, do I?"

"Really? You're like the ultimate jock and you're complaining you don't fit in with the chess club?"

"Yeah, I don't actually understand..."

"... what I'm talking about? Sorry. We're gonna have to work on this whole blending in thing a bit more before we get to lingo."

There's a knock at the door, and the pair turn to find Erik fumbling with the door. They watch him try to balance the equipment under one arm, a large flat box in the other, and the doorknob somewhere in between. After a moment he stops and glares at Darcy.

When they are all settled again after Darcy has had her fun, Erik lifts open the box and gestures inside. "I know how much you eat, so I figured you'd be hungry already."

"Hells yes!" says Darcy, reaching for a slice.

Loki is actually hungry, but the food in front of him is confusing and watching Darcy grin at him while she chews is enough to put him off.

"Thank you, but no."

He realizes he might have misspoke when Erik and Darcy stare at him, the latter with the slice half raised to her open mouth. She begins to say something, but Erik raises his hand and changes the subject.

"So SHIELD has been in quite a tizzy since Jane informed them our friend here had returned."

Darcy laughs and winks at Loki as if they are in on the same joke.

"Did he break all their equipment with his rainbow bridge again?"

Erik shakes his head, but he is staring at Loki as he answers Darcy.

"That's just it. There was no interference. No storm. No sign at all." He sits back in his chair and relaxes slightly. "But, then again this whole thing is utter madness. Gods and children's tales." He makes a dismissive noise.

Loki clears his throat and chooses his words carefully.

"The bridge was destroyed. My brother..." His breath catches a little. "I couldn't overpower him. The only way to keep him from destroying everything was to destroy the bridge. I knew it meant I would likely be stranded here forever, but it was a risk I was willing to take. And so I fell. I suppose it dropped me in the last place the BiFrost connected to here."

Even Erik is leaning forward in his chair by this point. Darcy has abandoned her food entirely.

"Fell," she says incredulously. "Like, really and truly just fell from the sky without your teleporter? How are you not dead? That's gotta be a god thing right?"

Loki smiles. **_Humans_**.

"A god thing," he agrees.

Erik lets out a low whistle, but a noise from Darcy's device distracts them.

"Jane?"

"Shit, SHIELD's on their way. Can't they just stay in their batcave and stop bothering us?"

"We can't let them find this laptop, it took me ages to compile the data we hadn't stored here."

"Right." Darcy and Erik jump up, when they remember their guest.

"Go," says Loki, "I'll be fine. I can finish this..."

"Pizza. Good." When Darcy gives him a look, Erik shrugs. "He's the God of Thunder. He has a pizza."

The two of them disappear out the door.

Now that he is alone and can get a better look, Loki pulls the book closer to him and flips backwards.

"Loki, God of Mischief. Companion to Thor, the God of Thunder. Son of the Frost Giant Laufey." **_Even the damn humans knew._** His lip curls in a cruel sneer.

_**Enough.**_

He shoves the book away so hard it goes flying off the table. In a moment, that too goes flying, knocking over some equipment stands in the process.

There is something freeing and incredibly visceral about letting his anger run its course. It is actually quite unlike him. _**Like Thor**_, he thinks bitterly. Loki runs his hand through his hair, so roughly that it feels like his hand will come away with a clump of tangled blond hair. Instead, he shimmers ever so slightly, feeling his magic course through him. When he sees the familiar dark black strands cling to his fingers, he shrugs off the last of his disguise.

He runs his hand along the side of his hip, feeling the slim, tailored fit of his grey trousers. The crisp, white dress shirt feels cool against his feverish skin. A green tie is loosely looped about his neck, regrettably sloppy, but appropriate in this heat. He chooses to leave the suit jacket off, and instead, drapes it over the back of his chair.

It feels good to be in his own skin. He stretches and moves his limbs as if he was trying on new clothes. And then he smiles.

_**What fun!**_

It took those foolish humans long enough to leave him alone. He had to get somewhere more alive. He needed information about this feeble realm, and to be around people who had no reason to suspect him.

He would have to leave without saying goodbye to Jane. Loki didn't understand why this troubled his mind. She was Thor's woman, and a complication. In fact, she was the only reason why Thor was able to destroy his careful plans in the first place... But he did not hate the others; Darcy who hid her intelligence behind quips, and Erik who watched him so suspiciously.

To tell the truth, he did not hate Jane either.

Still, there was his sense of self-preservation, and staying in a town with the only dedicated government force that knew he existed was unthinkable.

"It's too bad really," he says, to no one in particular. It occurrs to him that Heimdall might be watching, and his resolve to give them a good show back home only hardens.

"What's too bad really?" says a voice that startles him.

Loki turns sharply on his heel, and comes face to face with a man so scared he is literally shaking. His gun is drawn, but even that poses little threat to the god.

"Who are you?"

Loki's smile is as cold as ice. "Who are _you_?"

"Agent Black. Are you a SHIELD agent?" When Loki's smile widens, he shudders and tries to puff out his chest and steady his arm. "They'll be here any moment. Even if you..."

"Even if I... _what_?"

Loki begins to walk towards the agent, slowly. Menacingly. He makes a small gesture with his hands as if he is running them under a pipe, and suddenly he is holding a snake.

"Tell me Agent. What is it that humans fear most? What is it that_ you_ fear most?"

The snake slides from his hands, and begins to make its way towards Agent Black. It slithers closer. Closer. It is now a lean, hungry looking wolf that snaps its jaws and lunges. Now it is a puff of smoke from which pour wailing half-rotted ghosts. Black loses sight of Loki as he pulls his arms up to defend himself from the descending spectres. Now it is a soldier in a reflective helmet and full kevlar body armour, with an automatic weapon pointed at his head.

It's not real, he thinks. It's not real. "It's not real!" he screams out loud.

There is a loud bang as the soldier's gun goes off, and Black's body crumples to the ground. The soldier lifts up his visor, and Loki's icy smile once again shines out at the agent. There is no blood. There is no bullet. But Agent Black is still undoubtedly dead.

There is a noise outside, cars pulling up, and booted feet hitting the ground at a run.

Loki pulls off the helmet and the sharp edges of his features blur slightly, just enough that there is nothing to focus on. When he is whole again, he is wearing a suit identical to Agent Black's. He quickly tightens the tie, and rummages through the dead man's pockets. He pulls out some papers and the man's credentials. Loki frowns because it was irritating enough to look like his brother, let alone this weak human in front of him, but there is little time and he has to do something quickly.

He flicks his wrist in a deft motion, and the credentials come back with a more appropriate picture. Just in time too.

"Freeze!"

A group of SHIELD agents burst in, guns drawn. One in particular, clearly the leader, takes a moment to look around the room before he comes forward to stand right by the agent's body. It is surprisingly easy to miss under Loki's cloak of magic.

"My name is Agent Coulson of SHIELD. We just heard a gunshot. Identify yourself."

"Agent Lukas Black. I'm the specialist Director Fury requested. I was told I was to meet everyone here." He offers up the credentials.

Coulson takes them and hesitates a moment, as if reading Loki's face, then nods at his men to holster their weapons. This time he offers his hand.

"So that's your car out front? We were sent to collect Thor for a debriefing, and we thought... where is he anyways?"

Loki looks out, through the glass doors and into the desert as if searching for the missing quarry. "Gone, I should think."

"Great," Coulson throws up his hands, "First we have to deal with a billionaire with enough money to BUY us. Then an octogenarian who is terrified by computers. And now a god who needs a GPS chip embedded in his thick skull. This is going... really, really well..."

"What about me?" Loki's voice is calm, but he is itching to let loose his magic and make good his escape.

Coulson nods.

"We can have someone deal with your luggage and car. You'd better come with us _right now_."

* * *

**A/N:**

**This one is quite a bit longer than the last (I think). I feel like I've got to introduce some sort of internal story rules about Loki's powers/physical presence here, as well as starting up the bigger storyline.**

**Once again, reviews/advice always appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Allies at Hand

"What do you mean, you LOST him?"

Director Fury's voice is so loud that, despite standing a polite distance away, Loki can hear the entire conversation through the device Coulson presses to his ear. Apparently they have a big problem on their hands.

The small group waits in a cramped chamber between two larger rooms, their progress interrupted while Coulson receives further orders and tries to deflect some of the heat. The other SHIELD agents are as stone-faced and silent as palace guards. At least they are easy to observe. Loki studies their posture and movements - the way they address each other and their superiors. He has been fairly silent himself, only answering a few questions of Agent Coulson's.

It's all been rather easy so far. Agent Black's sudden appearance was a surprise and Coulson had wisely, though futilely, run a background check on him. The results were unsurprising - Black appeared to be just another SHIELD lackey to throw at the Avengers Initiative - but Coulson didn't seem convinced. It took Director Fury's confirmation to finally set his mind at ease.

Coulson comes across as nice enough - not to mention vaguely mild-mannered - which is a farce Loki instantly saw through. Why would a man like that rank so highly in an agency attempting the impossible? Coulson is always professional, but Loki suspects his presence here represents some sort of threat to the man.

_**If he only knew...**_

"Yes, sir... Black was there at the scene when we arrived, but I don't think he... well, he's here now if you'd like to..."

Loki tenses. The first, and most obvious flaw in this rather haphazard plan, is that someone who actually knows Agent Black will call him on his lie. Nick Fury is ostensibly the biggest threat, as the only person who could confirm Black's mission.

"Alright. No, I'll tell him myself, thank you sir." Coulson turns to Loki. "Right. Black, it looks like you've arrived in the middle of a Grade-A shit-storm, but we're gonna do what we can."

The doors finally open with a ding, and he follows Coulson into a room full of large, blinking screens. It veritably thrums with the energy of so many machines and bustling people.

"Does Jane Foster work here?"

Coulson seems surprised he asked. "You know Dr. Foster? Interesting, I wasn't aware her involvement was in the scope of your assignment. We've set up a temporary research lab for her further east, but unfortunately we don't have the time for a social call right now."

When a worker hands him a file with the word "CLASSIFIED" stamped across the front, he thrusts it towards Loki. "What do you know about our mission?"

Loki blinks. It is an innocuous motion that doesn't warrant much note, but by the time he opens his eyes again he is truly the God of Lies. He takes the file and flips through it candidly.

"Well, I would hope the mission right now is to recover the alien, Thor. I understand there is a contingency plan that has taken effect?" He is a quick study and, since Agent Coulson hasn't let him out of his sight all day, he can safely mimic the agents' small-talk. He avoids going near words and subjects he has no context for, and as a result is fairly confident. It is this last point that really sells the act.

"Of course. We have 24 hours to recover the package... for his own protection." Coulson emphasizes the word_ 'package'_, clearly disapproving of Black's use of the word _'alien'_, "After which, we will have to assume he is either indifferent or hostile to our interests. In either case, he will then be declared a threat to global security, and we will move onto the next stage."

"How wise is it to take on such great power? Especially when we have no experience dealing with it." It is distasteful to include himself among their feeble ranks, but the lie holds.

"It's our mandate. We may be the little guys in the grand scheme of things, but we'll be damned if we won't go down without a fight."

Loki smiles. Coulson's earnestness is endearing, if not outright foolish. "And what can I do to help?"

"Until we recover the package and can get your mission under way, _whatever that is_, you might as well be reassigned to Dr. Foster's detail. We need her help because she's so closely tied to the case, but we can't have her knowing Thor's missing until we have more information. Preferably _after_ 24 hours."

Loki raises an eyebrow. "So... secure the lab."

"The lab is already secure. That's not the point. We're trying to avoid crossing that particular line again if we don't need to."

_**Line? What line?**_

"You'll find Dr. Foster's team in the East Wing, Observation Room 42A." Coulson claps him on the back and grabs hold of his hand firmly, vise-like. This is not friendly or polite like before. There is something... dominating in the gesture, and Loki has to grit his teeth to keep from yanking back his hand. "I'm sure a top agent like yourself will have no trouble finding your way there."

The team of agents follow Coulson through another door, leaving Loki to flex his hand uncomfortably. The gesture is as foreign to him as anything else, and the more he's forced to use it the less he's sure what exactly it's supposed to mean. Physical contact is much more binary on Asgard - you either can or you can't. It implies a certain level of intimacy - though that might have to do with being a Prince. He is not used to strangers putting their hands on him.

Loki begins to walk in the direction Coulson pointed. He isn't sure if the men that pass him do not question the intentional confidence and purpose in his stride, or if they are aware of who he's supposed to be.

He reaches a dead end and frowns. This is the wrong way. His mind is a torrent of thoughts, and the constant obstacles of security doors and personnel is wearing him down.

_**This place seems built to keep people from getting where they need to be...**_

A guard places his hand on Loki's shoulder as he redirects him back down the hallway he just came from. The gesture makes him flinch, but he politely thanks the man.

His second chance is coming with far, far too many strings to his old life. Too many things that force him to think of what he has lost. The memories feel as if they belong to someone else entirely, and are unwelcome when they interrupt his thoughts.

Loki Odinson is dead. More than that, he never existed beyond a lie. And as for Loki Laufeyson - well he wasn't even sure who that was, but he loathed him already.

When he reaches a door, Loki pulls out his credentials and holds it out for yet another scanner's approval.

Beep!

Most times, Loki hides behind the face of another - his undeserving brother, or a host of other convenient figures. He looks at the picture on the ID card. Somehow he has managed to put his own face on this particular lie. But even then, he is not Agent Lukas Black. He killed Lukas Black.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Call me Luke." He offers his hand.

Darcy stands with her arms crossed and her hip jutting out to one side. She is clearly displeased to see him, a sharp change from her reaction to Thor this morning. Jane and Erik are huddled over a computer at one end of a long, paper-covered table. They watch him warily.

"Oh hey, nice to meet you Luke." Her tone makes it clear it is definitely NOT nice at all. She refuses to shake his hand and repeats her question.

"I'm... just another agent. Listen, I'm not here to cause trouble. Your research is very important to us, and I'm here to be of any assistance." Loki's silver tongue has enough of an effect that Jane comes forward and gently puts her hand on Darcy's shoulder to dissuade her. She does not shake his hand when redirects the offer to her.

"Sorry. But I'm not ready to trust SHIELD just yet. And you're not a scientist, so you're here for what? To babysit?"

"He's our jailor," spits Darcy. She wanders back towards Erik.

"Do you know anything about..." Jane hesitates to say his name, but her voice is low and trembles slightly as she holds back her emotions. She even comes forward towards Loki as if to touch his arm, though she catches herself at the last moment.

_**Jane.**_

He reaches forward and completes the movement for her before she can withdraw completely. Her hand is small in his. It isn't comfort he can offer - not when coming from a stranger - but he tries for reassurance.

When her eyes fill with tears he knows it is enough.

"I'm sorry, I know you all said you're the good guys. And you did go out of your way to help return my research, but do you have to make everything so _HARD_?"

Her honest words and acceptance break the tension in the room, though Darcy still glares at him unmercifully.

Erik clears his throat. "Thor?"

Jane remembers herself and pulls her hands away from his, blushing. She swipes at her eyes with her sleeve and returns to her companions. The length of the room between them might as well be a wall of stone, impossible to break through. But now, at least, they are ready to listen.

Loki's mind works quickly, moving through scenarios like so many games of chess. SHIELD would be a powerful resource to have in his pocket. But they were this great, faceless monolith and it would be far too easy to get caught in their web of schemes.

No, this was not how Loki would use SHIELD to his advantage.

What he really needed were allies he could predict... whose dedication and warmth towards him could be turned into unwavering loyalty.

The rest he was not ready to admit to himself. Not yet. He had come far too close with those that mattered most back on Asgard, and had watched everything fall to pieces.

"Luke?"

Her voice is small, her trust opening a door and inviting him to walk through.

Loki breathes deeply and blinks. When he opens his eyes he is Luke Black, a good soul who would like nothing better than the help the underdogs that look to him.

"About Thor..." he begins, and he removes the first stone from between them.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Lmao, have I thoroughly confused everyone yet?  
**

**I see Loki in the same vein as... a spy or a double agent. He has to really inhabit the guise of the person he's impersonating in order to survive, and in that way every time he shifts it's almost like he's inhabiting a split-personality. For someone with a strong sense of self, like he used to be, this would be empowering and it was an exercise in manipulation. But now, without a default he identifies with (formerly Loki Odinson) he is starting to split apart, and is in danger of disassociating completely.  
**

**So, just to clear things up - all characters will refer to him as the character they see (Thor, Luke, etc.), whereas he sees himself as Loki and always identifies as that (and we are seeing his POV).  
**

**Special thanks to sophietee for trying to help me format the inner dialogue bits. Within the formatting structure of the site, is it best to just italicize it, or does bolding it help? Either way, I try to re-read and edit frequently, so I'll make sure it stays consistent.  
**

**As always, reviews/advice are/is much appreciated!  
**


	4. Chapter 4: The Fight for a Second Chance

**_The trick to telling a truly great lie_**, thinks the god, _**is to be the only person in the room who has control over the truth.**_

He sits at a long conference table, leaning back ever so slightly in his chair, long legs crossed and fingers intertwined over his chest. Darcy sits at his elbow, going through papers. She is uncharacteristically quiet.

Erik has been gone for several hours at this point, having eventually won the argument with Jane over who was going to gather more information. No one had said much after that.

An image catches his eye and he makes his way over to where Jane stands, staring up at a large screen.

"It's hard to imagine so much trouble over one person."

Jane looks up, startled, and quickly moves her hand across the image, causing it to slide away from view. It is replaced by several more - maps, star charts, numbers.

"I thought you were asleep."

Loki moves his hand across the screen like Jane. The map of New Mexico zooms away and he is looking at an entire land mass in the middle of an ocean, and then a planet. He flicks his hand and it spins.

"I can't sleep. There's so much going on. So much I don't understand."

She looks at him sideways and smiles. "I know the feeling. Listen... thank you for being honest with us earlier. It's so hard to know who to trust around here." She hesitates, but then places her hand over his. "Thank you."

The gesture is small, but intimate, and it is more than Loki knows what to do with. He clears his throat and pulls his hand away quickly.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to..." she stammers, her face turning bright red. "Erik says I'm too trusting. That I need to protect myself better."

"You can trust me."

"I got something!" calls Darcy from her side of the room. She drags a laptop over and turns it to face them. "We can't access the files, but Thor's name pops up on two SHIELD directives - something called the Avengers Initiative... and an unnamed project they've reopened that looks like it pre-dates SHIELD."

Loki mentally files away this information, but slams the laptop shut.

"What the hell-!" cries Darcy, barely able to move her fingers out of harms way before the lid comes down. She doesn't get to finish her sentence before she too hears the footsteps approaching, and the door slides open.

"Any news?" he asks as an unfamiliar agent enters.

"Sorry for the interruption. Agent Black's needed elsewhere. Orders from Director Fury."

Loki nods and grabs his suit jacket from behind the chair. Just before he walks through the door the agent stops and turns back into the room, his eyes wandering as if he's trying to remember something important.

"Oh, um. Miss Lewis. Agent Coulson told me to inform you that a cyber-security alarm from this sector was triggered a few minutes ago. He suggests you disconnect from the network and ensure your information is safe. Don't worry Dr. Foster, Miss Lewis. It appears to be a false-alarm. We have the very best on it right now. We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Great. Thanks." As the door shuts, Loki catches a glimpse of Darcy's face, white as a sheet.

"This way, Agent Black."

A team of SHIELD agents had been waiting in the hall, and they fall into step around Loki and his companion as they move forward.

"Is someone going to tell me what all this is about, Agent...?"

"Barton. And I'm sure someone will. Just… not me." His eyes dart towards Loki, and reveal amusement. "Sorry."

Loki is frustrated. Everything here operates so bureaucratically. There are layers upon layers of secrets, and he is tired of every one of them.

* * *

They enter a room he's seen before. The one with all the computer screens – the control room.

"Boss! I passed on your message and found your babysitter. That everything?"

"What do you two make of this?" Coulson ignores the question and nods at a technician who brings a video up on the larger screen. A grainy image of a flat desert landscape appears.

"What're we looking at?" asks Barton.

His answer comes in the form of a sudden windstorm that kicks up, creating a dark vortex that seems to absorb all light. At first there is nothing, but then the group notices a darker blur that eventually sharpens into the shape of a man.

Loki has been watching in silence, his lips set in a firm, thin line. His hand clenches as he feels his stomach drop, remembering the sensation of falling into darkness. He closes his eyes when he sees the moment his body shattered on the ground. The screen goes black.

Barton cringes and lets out a low whistle.

"This is a video confiscated from Miss Lewis. My guess is that the screen goes blank because the computer shut off suddenly. Dr. Foster has confirmed the date stamp"

That's how Jane knew to come for him.

"Thankfully, when we swept the site we found that the camera kept recording, despite not transmitting." He pulls out a smaller memory card and hands it to the technician. "Time stamp 13:00 hours."

The picture jumps to life again, and he can see a van pulling up in the distance. Loki watches as the tall, thin figure stands up slowly before crouching away from the van - towards the camera. The dust makes it hard to make out details – there are only blurry shapes, but Loki has stood in the shadow of his brother his entire life, and knows there is no mistaking the difference when Thor steps out to greet Jane.

"You can see we might have a major problem on our hands."

Barton's posture and expression have locked into rigid readiness, but his eyes are wild with alarm. "So... does this mean we have two rogue gods on our hands... or one that can... change shape? Do we think this is connected to the recent attacks in town?"

Loki has gone deathly still. Only his eyes flick slowly from Coulson to Barton as the two men bat ideas back and forth.

"Well, what about you Black? Any insights for us?"

There's a very eerie sense of calm in the air. At that moment every man and woman in the room holds an image in their head of the thing they fear losing the most.

Loki looks around at the room full of terrified agents, and for the first time since he landed on this forsaken planet, he feels like things make sense. He does not feel fear among these people. There is no power among them that can defeat him, and no prison on Midgard that can hold him. In fact, if his time here so far is any indication, they're probably begging for something interesting to happen.

"How much do we really know about Thor anyways?"

"He stopped his brother from blowing a crater in New Mexico," says Barton, flatly. "Jane told us that much. And he has access to technology that is well beyond ours."

"So that makes him a potential friend to this planet?"

"That makes him a useful ally if we can spin it. What did you say you were sent here for again?" Barton's body tenses and his hand subconsciously hovers above his holster.

Loki is equally tense, though it is the unwavering acceptance of Thor that he does not understand. Thor crashed to earth with nothing but a smile and a swagger, and here Loki has surrounded himself with the trappings of qualifications and authority – and still they choose Thor. The lights begin to flicker and his eyes glower wildly for a moment before he collects himself and breathes.

He doesn't get a chance to answer because Coulson's hand goes to his earpiece and he gestures for silence though his eyes remain locked on Loki as if that wasn't the end of the matter.. "Yes sir, I agree that extra precautions are necessary. Of course, I'll see to the arrangements myself." He moves his hand down again. "Looks like we've got back-up heading our way. For now, Barton, you and Black take our visitors back to the radio station, keep them out of the way. See if you can find out anything more about their recent encounter with the subject. Black seems to have developed a rapport with them, let's see if we can't use that to our advantage."

Loki delays, hoping to get a better look at the video, but Barton salutes and walks out the door, and he is forced to follow. The two men walk in silence down a few hallways before Barton stops short and suddenly gets in Loki's face.

"I don't know who you really are, or why you're here, but this whole thing isn't a joke to the rest of us. Gods and Aliens or not. Things weren't going so well for me before all this, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else screw this up. I've been given a second chance and I'm going to fight for it."

_**A second chance. But you're not the only one who deserves one.**_

* * *

The trip back is completely uneventful. Barton drives, while Darcy dozes in the back seat with an uncharacteristically quiet Jane. Despite the decision not to tell her about the video, it had taken some time to convince Jane that SHIELD was not going to take her research away again. Darcy was much more easily satisfied at the prospect of sleeping in her own bed again. Erik, it seemed, had been caught up in another project and would return to them when he could.

Barton sets up in the main area, Darcy departs to find somewhere to sleep, and Jane disappears onto the roof with her notebook.

"Where are you going?" demands Barton when Loki heads towards the door. He is still clearly uneasy with the way things had gone.

"I need some air to clear my head a bit. I'll check the perimeter while I'm at it." He shoves his hands into his pockets and wanders outside.

What he wants most in the world right now is to set things back. Before he was a traitor, before he was a failure… back when his elder brother was his hero and his path to follow in his footsteps was certain. The Asgardian way was simple – you distinguished yourself on the battlefield and earn a place among the warriors.

Perhaps he was looking at this all wrong. His entire life he had tried to blend in, to appease the egos of those around him who could not appreciate his unique abilities. Look where that had got him. _**Barton was right.**_ He was going to have to fight for his second chance.

Loki looks up into the expanse of unfamiliar stars and closes his eyes. He draws inwards, through darkness and pain and finally feels the icy cold power at his core. The stars in the sky begin to blot out one by one, and it is only when the clouds attempt to block out the moon that it feels like an approaching storm and not the end of the world.

Up on the roof Jane's fire fizzles as the rain picks up, and she wraps her blanket tighter around her shoulders. She does not run inside, but looks to the storm with eagerness.

Loki takes a deep breath and lifts off into the sky, too fast for the human eye to catch. The storm clouds swirl around him, feeding the frenzy as he hangs in the air, and then they follow him as he dives headlong towards the station once more.

He lands with a noise as loud as thunder, and Jane turns around as the building shakes beneath his feet. Her eyes are bright with excitement, but she does not approach – as if she is afraid she will lose him if she comes too close.

"I offered you answers once, Jane Foster, and repaid you with uncertainty. If I offer myself to you again, will you give me a second chance?"

"Of course!" she laughs. She runs into his arms, for the second time, and he pulls his cape around her to shield her from the downpour. She takes his face in her hands and, lifting herself on her tiptoes, kisses him.

The entire world is a torrent of water to him, beating against him relentlessly... washing him away. Washing him clean. He laughs, bright and carefree, and lifts her closer to him to kiss her more deeply.

_**Damn the consequences.**_ "Shall we fly away?"

"In this?" she laughs. Her voice holds no uncertainty, and her embrace holds nothing back. Loki cannot remember the last time anyone has looked at him this way.

"Do you trust me?" asks the God of Lies.

"Yes," she says, breathless, "Do you promise not to let me fall?"

He pulls her closer still, kisses her again, and looks her straight in the eye. "I promise I'll never let you go."

* * *

By the time Barton arrives on the roof, gun drawn, they are tiny specks in the distance, and the moon has reappeared in the sky.

"Goddamit!"

He pulls out a radio from his pocket and walks towards the edge of the roof to survey the scene. "Sir, we're gonna need back up here... oh, a LOT more than that... Black's not answering his comm, and I just watched Thor fly off with Dr. Foster. Yessir, he just lifted her into the sky."

There is a horrified pause as his breath catches in his throat and he begins to sputter. "Oh god, oh god… I can see Black from here… we've got an agent down, send a medevac right now!" He sprints back down the stairs at full speed.

On the ground below, lying battered in a pool of his own blood, Agent Black – or rather, a seemingly perfect copy – smiles into the night sky before succumbing to unconsciousness.

* * *

**A/N:**

**It's so close to being Lokane and yet isn't, lmao. That being said, I think my version of Loki has a problem separating what he wants from what he needs... and he's currently in a mindset where he's ready to take anything he wants and justify it to himself any way he needs to. I seriously doubt he knows how to separate want and desire from love so there's no way this is going to be smooth sailing for our fair friends. That and he's impersonating his brother :P  
**

**I'm having trouble reconciling how much I love him as a badass villain, as a broken wreck of a god, and as someone ultimately worthy of redemption and love. But since his whole plan in the movie boiled down to "troll Thor, pretend to save the world while being both instigator AND savior"... I think he can easily manage to do both from where he stands in the story at this point :P**

**Reviews/Comments appreciated as always! And let me know if there are any plot skips that I missed, because I rewrote this at least five times to avoid them all sitting in a room and brooding at each other, lmao. I need Loki to have a little fun, preferably at SHIELD's expense :P  
**

**[Update:] I got a few questions about this, so - Loki/Black haven't physically split, Loki's basically left behind a convincing projection similar to when the Frost Giant attacked him in Jodenheim and when he was taunting Thor on the bridge. I realize that those were more like holograms, but cursory research tells me that Loki's gone much more elaborate with this concept. Black is in a coma, and is really just a physical placeholder, until he has need of him again. It'll be the FIRST thing I address in the next chapter, promise ;)  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Darcy & The Aftermath

**A/N: I wanted to write a Loki/Jane scene immediately after, but thought this needed a little explanation. The first non-Loki POV and it's - Darcy!**

* * *

Darcy feels sick to her stomach as she tries to occupy as little space as possible in the chopper. What little sleep she was able to get in the van is barely sustaining her, but she couldn't close her eyes at this point if she tried. Earlier, Barton had shaken her out of a deep sleep, terrifying her as she woke to the sight of him covered in blood. She can't get the image of all that blood out of her mind.

Now as she holds Agent Black's hand, watching as the paramedics work on him, she realizes she must look much the same.

"Miss, I need you to put pressure here." says a paramedic. When she stares at him blankly, Barton slides over beside her and does it for her.

"Just breathe," he says, and then kindly adds, "They're going to be just fine."

Darcy nods. "I just don't get it. He was like... like a giant blond teddy-bear or something. We ran him over twice... I even Tazed him and he woke up smiling." She looks at Barton plaintively. "He loves pop tarts!"

"Jane's a smart girl. And we're going to do everything we can to find her, if I have to steal a chopper and go after them myself." He nods politely at the co-pilot, who raises an eyebrow at them over his shoulder.

* * *

When they touch down, Darcy tries to follow, but Barton puts his hand on her shoulder and she is forced to watch the paramedics whisk him away. "Come on. No point standing here fretting about what we have no control over. We've got a god to catch."

He leads her through the perimeter, where convoys of vehicles are heading out, and back into the heart of the enclosure. "Just wait here, I'll make sure someone comes to get you as soon as I can."

"Does this happen a lot?"

"What?"

"Gods dropping from the sky and blowing shit up and..." She looks at the blood crusted over on her hands.

Barton smiles sadly, tells her to "sit tight" and disappears beyond a pair of security doors.

She waits for what feels like hours, but is likely just a little over half an hour. When the door opens she starts to say "Finally! I thought you forgot about me - " but her voice fades away in her throat.

A tall man in a trenchcoat and... an eyepatch... breezes by her with a stern look, followed by Coulson and yet another team of agents. But she has to clasp her hands over her mouth to stifle her cry when she sees that they are escorting Thor among their ranks.

"Darcy, I was going to - gods! Are you hurt? Are you alright? Whose blood is that?" Erik arrives at the vanguard and runs to her when he sees her shocking state. He stays behind as the others walk on.

"It's alright, it's not mine." She takes quick, panicked breaths and waves her hands in front of her face. "But Erik, I was there... he took out a SHIELD agent and took Jane!"

"What? Who did?"

"THOR!" she hisses, looking over her shoulder.

Erik looks thoroughly confused by this point. "It can't be. Director Fury had me flown out to headquarters to help debrief Thor. We've been airborne the entire time! But listen, what do you mean Jane was taken?"

Darcy quickly outlines the events from earlier in the night, culminating in the last time she saw Agent Black disappear on a stretcher.

Erik is heartbroken and at a complete loss. "How can this be?"

Agent Coulson clears his throat from the doorway. "It looks like we might have an imposter on our hands. You should come with me."

The room they enter is brightly lit, and is surprisingly empty except for Director Fury and Thor. Everyone stands awkwardly, despite the empty chairs.

"I don't understand," says Erik, plainly, at the same moment as Darcy demands "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"As promised, I'm here to do anything I can to help." Thor's offer is gallant, but he is thrown by the cold response he gets from his Midgardian friends. "I know I did not return as quickly as promised but... what is it?"

Fury looks as if all the streams he was so carefully diverting were starting to flow together as one. Coulson looks as if he is waiting for the call to hold back the flood.

"It's Jane..." Coulson begins, taking a step backward as Thor steps towards him.

"What about Jane?" His voice is low and dangerous.

"She was taken... we don't know by whom. We're still gathering information."

Thor's face contorts into a mask of pain. For such a large figure he suddenly looks very small indeed.

"That's a lie." Even Darcy is surprised to hear her voice. She looks at Thor mistrustfully, but continues. "She was taken... by you. Or at least that's what Agent Barton told me. But you said you just arrived... we both saw you ourselves!"

"It's true. Agent Barton has been debriefed, and his account is consistent as far as Agent Black's injuries and the lack of tracks leaving the scene." Coulson's tone is contrived to diffuse the situation, but Thor is barely listening.

"It can't be..." An odd light appears in his eyes. Hope and fear. "He's alive?"

"We'll don't keep us in suspense!" demands Fury.

"Loki."

Erik scoffs. "More children's tales!"

"The guy with the goat horns?" An illustrated image of the impish god pops into Darcy's head.

"My brother. He fell... we thought he was lost to us forever." His voice is choked and his eyes search the floor as if for answers. His body suddenly goes rigid as a thought occurs to him. "He said he would find her."

As the god starts to push his way through to the door, Fury calls in on a comm and orders Agent Barton to accompany him.

"I don't need your help."

"It's not to help you. We need to cover our asses in case the wrong Norse god returns to us."

Thor gives him a look and stalks out the door, Mjolnir in hand.

"Make sure he doesn't leave without Barton!" barks Fury as Coulson hurries after Thor.

Fury looks like he's about to leave too, so Darcy steps in front of him. "What about Agent Black?"

His face doesn't soften, though she feels as if there's some measure of pity when he looks at her. "He's strong, but he's been through quite a lot."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm afraid he's in a coma. No one can say for certain when... or if, he'll come out of it. I'm sorry."

* * *

Erik stays by her side as she navigates the maze of corridors to a temporary medical unit. Inside there is a mass of machines and tubes... and somewhere in the middle of it is Luke Black. Agent Lukas Black.

His face is swollen so much the entire left side of his head looks twice the size of the right. His skin is a rainbow of reds that haven't fully formed, dark blue and purple bruises, and sickly green splotches.

"He did this?" says Erik quietly.

"Barton saw him. They were long gone by the time he woke me." She goes quiet for a moment. "It's odd, but I'm actually hoping it turns out to be Thor's brother, even if he was the one who tried to kill us with a giant robot. Him I can hate. But if it turns out that this was Thor..."

She grasps Luke's hand, more to comfort herself than anything else, but the gesture feels right.

Erik makes his way over to a chair in the far corner and settles in. "You should get some sleep."

Darcy's eyes have been drooping, but she nods as if this is a choice. The entire world has flipped upside down and she needs something to ground her. Something to hold on to. She closes her eyes and lays her head on the bed beside Luke's arm - still clasping his hand in hers.

She dreams of stars and vistas so breathtaking she feels as if she's died. She dreams she is a child, running so fast her legs burn and she feels as if she's about to take flight. She does not see who she is chasing, but she feels safe, as only children can.

And then suddenly she is cold... so cold she can feel it in her bones and her limbs have long since gone numb. She feels cold and alone, and more terrified than she has ever felt in her life. Cold, cold, cold. It is all she can think of.

In the corner of her consciousness she feels him squeeze her hand and, comforted, she finally drifts into the sweet slumber she so craves. She will never question why, but right at this moment - she _understands_.

* * *

**A/N:**

**I had written this section and the next as one, but in the opposite order. Just switched because this more directly answered what happened to Black, and as a result just lost the bit where Loki follows up with the Black projection and specifically uses that word :P  
**

**Next up - we'll see what happens to Loki/Jane, and Thor is on his way to crash his little brother's party.  
**

**As far as Black's connection with Darcy - though he's merely a projection, he is still mentally tied to his consciousness. I don't think he intended to connect with Darcy in any form, but he is aware that it happened (being present enough for the last line).  
**

**I want to detour into some fun action scenes, because what fun is it to have TWO Thors, as well as Thor and Loki together again, if there's not going to be a throwdown? :p But suffice to say that right now, as far as Loki's relationships go - he has Jane who loves "him", Darcy who "understands" him (though I haven't revealed what that means), and Thor who knows him best of all. And I feel he's ready to be given an ultimatum as to where he stands, and how much responsibility he's going to own up to.  
**

**[Updated to clarify Darcy's statement in answer to Erik asking "He did this?" - Because I screwed up my subjects and it wasn't clear who had passed on what information ;) ]  
**

**Reviews/comments/questions, as always, are welcome. I try to respond to as many as I can :)  
**


	6. Chapter 6: The Clash Atop a Mountain

**A/N:**

**Thanks to Lexicon/HowlynMad for catching that twisty bit of sentence that got away from me in the last chapter. I'm always open to fixing things, and appreciate any attempts to beta ;)  
**

* * *

Loki lands on the highest mountain on the horizon and lets Jane down gently onto the parched rock.

"I could get used to that. Forget about dreaming of all the places I'd like to visit. All I'd have to do is lift off and fly away." She spreads out her arms and tips forward on her toes, causing Loki to panic and reach forward to steady her. "Don't worry. I'm still right here."

It is this presence - the way she looks at him as if she really sees him - that has drawn him in. But when she raises her hand to run her fingertips across the metal of his breastplate the bitter reality of who she really sees settles in again, and he takes her hand in his before she can touch him.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." He forces a smile. "You spoke of places you'd like to visit? Jane, just name them, and they're yours!"

She laughs, delighted, but pulls away and places her hands on her hips in mock indignation. "I know I let you carry me off - twice, but even gods have to follow a rule or two if they want to win me over."

Loki steps back with one foot and places his left hand behind his back, bowing in a courtly manner. The corners of his mouth tug upwards in pure amusement, but he manages to maintain the gentlemanly farce long enough that is she who breaks into laughter first.

"Look at us. Any sane person would have woken up from this dream already." Her gaze sharpens, and he can see her trademark curiousity peering out at him again. "But what really happened? I was starting to think you were never coming back... or worse, that you _were_ just a dream."

Her question twists a knot in his stomach because it lays bare his lie, and forces him to lie even more to cover the first. He drops his gallant stance.

"I told you. My brother turned against me and we fought..."

"Thor, I know that part. But you seemed so surprised when you found out - I just don't understand, why would he do such a thing?" Her eyes are full of worry now, and she reaches out for him.

Once again, he grasps her hand before she can touch him. This time he lets go after a moment and turns away. "Jane, do you harbour secrets you would never share with anyone else?"

"Everyone has secrets. But I'm a scientist at heart, I suppose - I'd like to think I'd always welcome the truth, even when it's hard."

"Truth," he murmurs, "The truth is that Loki was no son of Asgard, and no brother of mine. He is the son of Laufey, the King of Frost Giants and the greatest threat the nine realms have ever faced. I suppose the only regret is that he wasn't exposed sooner."

"Did you know?"

"What? No." Not in so many words. Loki didn't suspect his brother would have been able to keep such a secret, but they had known their whole lives that he was different.

"Would it have made a difference? I mean, how can you love someone as your brother your entire life and then suddenly stop?"

"You don't understand. He was never my brother."

She steps up beside him and loops her arm firmly through his before he can stop her. "I was lucky enough to know my father for a short time, before he died. I'll always have an empty space in my life where he should have been, but it doesn't change how much I love and appreciate what Erik has done for me all these years. In so many ways, he's the reason I'm out here chasing stars and following my dreams. Why I met you..." She rests her head against his arm. "Sometimes your family just chooses you."

Loki breathes deeply as he looks out at the stars. He lets the weight of his lids close over his eyes, sending a streak of tears down both sides of his face.

"I don't deserve you, Jane Foster." Truer words have never passed his lips.

"Ugh, I don't know if I can handle another drenching," says Jane. Loki turns to her, surprised. She looks uncertainly in the opposite direction, where a dark thunderstorm appears to be rolling in. "You're the God of Thunder. Can't you hold it off till we get clear?"

Loki has stopped listening to her, and watches the approaching storm intently. There had been no clouds on the horizon a moment ago, and these were not the showy things he had whipped up using his magic. These clouds were dark, angry things that lit up from within with violent charges of electricity.

"It can't be..." His words are a whisper, quickly stolen by the winds that howl past them. "No! Jane, do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then we have to leave now, before... before everything is ruined again."

"Ruined? Again?" She laughs and shoves him playfully. "Who knew the God of Thunder would be so afraid of a little rain?"

But even as he holds her in his arms, he knows he has lost her. He presses his lips to her forehead, and steps back to the edge of the cliff just out of reach.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

Before she has a chance to move towards him, the storm is upon them, and he is struck by an enormous force that sends him flying off the mountainside and into the darkness below.

* * *

"THOR!"

"Jane, step back! He'll be fine."

She turns to see a somewhat familiar SHIELD agent getting to his feet rather unsteadily, his face a sickly shade of green.

"That was... horrible... No wait! I'm Clint Barton, Fury sent me to make sure you were safe."

"From what?"

As if in answer there is a clap of thunder that shakes the ground at her feet, and she gasps as Thor bursts into view, Mjolnir clasped in hand. Barton draws a bow from his back and notches an arrow.

"What are you doing? He's one of the good guys!"

Barton furrows his brow. "Oh yeah? Which one of him?"

The two behemoths rise up into the sky, throwing their bodies so violently into their attacks, that each blow makes her cry out.

But, through all the confusion, it is clear that the fight is not balanced. For every blow the one dodges or lands, Mjolnir comes crashing down and sends him flying backwards like a broken doll.

"What's happening?" she demands of Barton.

He only half hears her as he keeps his sights trained on the dueling gods. "Thor's brother Loki has been having some fun at our expense. Bastard can shape-shift." He nods towards the identical Thunder Gods.

The world seems to drop away beneath her feet, and she is reminded of the moment she realized that she could not wait at the BiFrost site any longer - and the feeling of her heart breaking as she realizes she has lost him forever.

The rag-doll form comes hurtling past her to slam against the mountaintop. He spits out a mouthful of blood, but runs forward again, only to be clotheslined by the other.

"Stop it. Stop!" She runs up and tries to separate them, but Barton lunges at her and pins her to the ground. Her confusion knows no bounds, and when Thor lifts his arm to strike, her heart jumps a beat with hope - when his face crumples under the blow, her heart aches and she cries out for him.

"Why, brother?" Thor is unconsolable. His voice comes in hoarse sobs, and his eyes are wild with the spirit of the fight.

Loki chokes on his own blood. He would like nothing better than to pull out the Odinstaff or the Casket, but his disguise has not yet been blown. Despite his brother's knee pressing into his chest he leans forward to whisper, "Tell me what hurts more - how quickly she forgot you, or that she could ever love me?"

Thor responds by pushing Loki down by the neck with one hand and striking him hard with the other. Over and over again they come, the blows mixing blood and rain in the mud. The last blow is so hard Loki's head strikes the ground with enough force that he loses control over his form and shifts back into his own likeness. Thor raises Mjolnir high above his head. Loki smiles and waits for the blow. He would happily die if that hopelessly broken look on Thor's face was the last he could take with him.

Somewhere out of the periphery of the storm that is the two brothers, they hear a sob and a quiet "No..." and then a _click_.

Agent Barton had taken the opportunity to slip in close while the gods were distracted and, the moment Loki revealed himself, clapped a thick metal bracelet onto his wrist.

"Thor!" he yells, doing his best to physically block the fight without getting in the way, "He's done! You can stop! He won't be screwing with us anymore." He holds out an identical bracelet. "Here."

It takes Thor a moment to regain perspective, or control, or whatever it is that allows him to blink through his rage and lower his hammer. Granted, he lowers his hammer onto Loki's broken chest, causing his brother to cry out, but it allows him to somewhat calmly snap the bracelet onto Loki's other wrist.

Loki's lip raises in a snarl but he catches sight of Jane running up, and he turns his head away, unable to look her in the eyes. There is no hope of triumph anymore, just shame and loss.

"Take me away now, and I will not resist any further." He looks at Thor pleadingly. "Brother!"

Thor doesn't seem inclined to do Loki any favours, but when he sees the look on Jane's face he relents. For Thor, the warrior's spirit and a battle have always been joyful things, to be celebrated at its completion. Unlike Loki, he has only very recently begun to see battle as an unavoidable thing that leaves just as much destroyed on the victor's side as on the loser's. Ironically, it is Loki that has taught him this lesson. Neither brother is willing to let Jane become any more of a casualty in their conflict.

"Protect her with your life. I'll deal with my brother." He nods at Barton, who once again finds himself holding Jane back as she fights her way through.

The metal bracelets begin to hum with energy, and a small blue light emits from between them. Even if his limbs weren't so sore, the pull between them would have taken a lot of effort to fight, and he realizes they are shackles. Thor grabs him roughly by the elbow and the collar and launches them after Mjolnir into the sky.

"Just great. Stranded in the middle of... where? I guess we just have to be thankful things went down that... easily." He types something into a gadget on his wrist. "... and hope that someone finds us before the predators do..."

When he realizes Jane is staring at him numbly and in shock, he makes her sit on the ground and wraps his jacket around her shoulders.

"Just breathe. We'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

Even to him the words sound hollow.

* * *

**A/N:**

**I feel like I broke everyone... lol. But I'm a firm believer that you only appreciate the good times in relation to the bad, so they'll all get a chance to claw their way back.  
**

**And I secretly kind of like the idea that Loki would be willing to get his ass kicked by a very, very angry Thor rather than relinquish hope that he could turn it around and keep Jane from discovering his lie. I think he just dug himself too deep, and was waiting for it to fall apart.  
**

**Reviews/comments are, as always, appreciated.  
**

**(PS - If you're wondering about the posting schedule, I'm trying to do one or two chapters a day. For one, I'm kind of addicted to this story and am pleasantly surprised at the climbing word count and supportive reviews. For another, I really want to finish this fic before The Avengers comes out in Canada next Friday, May 4th, because this'll quickly turn into an AU-type thing and will be tempting to retcon if I'm still moving forward. There's still a ways to go so wish me luck!)  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Jane and The God of Lies

**A/N:**

**This chapter is quite talky, but I'm a bit trapped as far as space goes :P  
**

* * *

Jane steps off the helicopter feeling bleary-eyed and confused, as if she's been standing inside a tornado and has given up all her senses in favour of grounding herself to something she can hold onto. For now that something is her notebook, still tucked firmly into her belt. It's become almost an extension of her arm in the last few weeks – ever since Thor recovered it from SHIELD she's been afraid to let it out of her sight. It is what she held onto when her hands were shaking as she was escorted onto the helicopter to come out to SHIELD headquarters.

_**This is mine,**_ she thinks. It is years of her life and dreams – blood and sweat and eating cereal for dinner in a trailer out in the middle of a desert. For now, when she opens it, the first page she turns to is the one Thor drew for her on the roof that night. After years of searching hopelessly, that was the moment the entire world opened up for her. It is the most important page in the entire notebook – he gave that to her – and yet, she tells herself, _**it is still mine**_. No amount of heartbreak will change that.

And one day, when she's ready, she plans to frame the debacle from last week in this light.

SHIELD's headquarters is a giant carrier, that appropriately feels like something standing in between the Earth and whatever else was out there. It took her ages to get someone to bring her out here - apparently Barton championed the cause, having seen what really happened out there. There seems to be an over the top agent presence in reaction to Thor's… or rather, Loki's arrival.

The name still feels foreign to her, and since everything happened so fast on the mountaintop, she still does not have a face to put to the name. Loki. Thinking about him fills her with such profound sadness – and not just a little anger – that she has to shove the thoughts aside when she finds herself dwelling on them for too long. Jane feels like he has taken something from her, but what it is she cannot say yet.

"I thought I told you to stay in Puente Antiguo," says an unwelcome voice from behind her. She turns to face Nick Fury with a weary look. "I gave you the means to continue your research, but now your involvement in this is getting out of hand."

"You're telling me…" she mutters. But surprisingly, Fury's unnecessary abrasiveness is exactly what she needs to wake her up. "I don't care. I'm involved, I've _been_ involved since all this started. You talk big about how SHIELD's busy protecting every human being on the planet – well _I'm_ one of those human beings, and this is how you can protect me. You can give me the chance to get my life back."

Fury looks thoughtful for a second, but then abruptly turns on his heel and walks away. "I'm sending you back Jane. This isn't a negotiation."

It's hopeless, and the tornado is relentless. But then again…

She screws up her courage and walks up to the security doors and flashes the guard her SHIELD ID. It will grant her access to just beyond the front door, but once inside who knows how far she'll get.

Jane has a lot of questions that need answering, and she knows just the man that needs to answer them…who just happens to be the hardest man to find in the entire complex.

"I need to speak to Thor," she asks, for what feels like the hundredth time. "Big guy. Blond hair. Carries a hammer?" The sarcasm hasn't been getting her anywhere, but it hasn't stopped being cathartic. "Never mind."

That's when she notices a lanky, dark haired man wander out from a room at the end of a hallway. Though he wears the same nondescript black suit as every other _suit_ in this place, he seems disconcertingly at odds with his surroundings. Part of it is his casual posture, the way he watches every agent that passes with suspicious intensity. Part of it is that he notices Jane and is forced to catch his jaw before it hits the floor - before he shakes his head, apparently to himself, and with a quick smile, disappears back where he came from.

_**Why does he look so familiar?**_

It's as if he's a breadcrumb to follow. How could she resist that?

She takes one cautious look behind her, and then chases him through the door and down a long, blindingly white hallway. Every time she thinks she's about to lose him down a particularly winding corridor, or through a door that looks impassable, he lingers as if he's waiting for her and then swiftly continues on.

She feels like Alice chasing the White Rabbit. If the White Rabbit looked like a SHIELD agent, that is.

Most of the guards she runs past don't even look up. For those that do, it is momentary, as if they are catching something out of the corner of their eye. It isn't until she follows him into a pitch black room that a guard spots her in the light of the door.

"I'm sorry. You can't be here."

She sees the outline of the White Rabbit's features emerge from the darkness.

"My mistake. I'll make sure no one bothers you," he says.

"My mistake. I'll make sure no one bothers you," parrots the guard in a complete monotone.

"Also, I'll need some lights," he adds.

The guard nods and walks past Jane. There's a split second of overlap where she realizes what's about to happen in time to react and the door begins to shut. She's left in darkness, trapped behind a locked door.

The White Rabbit clears his throat, but Jane can feel fear and panic rising in her throat.

"Stay away. Seriously. This was a mistake."

The lights begin to come on from the far end of the room, which surprises her because the room is enormous. It seems built for the single purpose of observation. At the end opposite to her is a large glass observation area on the second floor which lies dark and empty.

When the entire length of the room is lit, the White Rabbit bows and then walks right through a large pane of glass that makes up one side of a cube in the middle of the room. He seems to disappear completely when he crosses paths with the cube's occupant.

Loki.

"Is this another one of your tricks?"

"Of course. What are the odds you would ever stumble across me again, if SHIELD succeeds in burying me in some eternal prison?" He throws his arms open wide and laughs bitterly. "Welcome to my palace, Jane."

He is dressed in full armour, similar to what she saw him in on the mountaintop. It has the same regal grandeur as Thor's, but that is where the similarities end between the brothers. Loki rivals Thor in height, but he has a thin, hungry look about him. He holds himself very still, though his eyes flick about as he talks as if his mind is sometimes moving far away.

She walks closer to what is clearly his prison cell, but keeps enough of a distance to... well, she wasn't sure what to expect from the Trickster god.

"Oh, don't worry. While Fury hasn't quite been able to stop me from playing mind games with his little SHIELD agents, he felt confident enough in his great glass cage to leave me here."

"I'm not interested in playing games, Loki."

He smiles and mockingly clutches at his heart. "I didn't quite catch that. Say it again?"

"No. Games."

"Not that part, Jane. The part where you said my name."

She ignores his request, and instead back over her shoulder. "What about the guard?"

"He's fine. Won't remember a thing." His body language morphs a little, and he walks up so his hands are steadying him against the glass. "Listen, Jane..."

"No," she says firmly, starting to back away. "You don't deserve a chance to explain... whatever you've been doing this whole time... I shouldn't even be here."

His lips form a tight, thin line. "But you are here. And I make my own chances, so you'll have to bear with me."

She turns away from him. Though he is the one in the cage, it is she who feels trapped.

"Jane. I know I deserve it, but do you really hate me that much?"

She speaks without turning. "I thought I would. I should."

"Oh?" A note of hope in his voice.

"You made me feel like a fool, at first, for throwing myself at you like I did. But I don't feel that way anymore. You took advantage of the fact that I knew Thor for just a few days before he left for Asgard." She turns to face him again, determined not to let him see that she is trying to convince herself as much as she is him. "I'm not ashamed that you tricked me. I didn't have the chance to learn all the little things about Thor. Maybe I would have known something was wrong if I did."

His face is oddly expressionless. No smirk. No sinister glare. He just watches her with those unblinking green eyes. "Go on," he says, though his tone suggests he'd rather the opposite.

"Well. I thought I was giving my heart to a stranger I could someday love. Turns out I was being lied to by a stranger trying to manipulate me into falling in love with him."

"You flatter yourself Jane." His body is tense, but his hand is shaking. For a moment Jane thinks she sees tears in his eyes. "You were a pawn in one plan that fell apart. No more."

Suddenly she is unafraid. Jane walks right up to the glass, which causes him to back away, startled. "No. You're lying again. I may not have known enough about Thor to suspect a man that wore his face... but I'm pretty good at spotting a lie. I'm starting to think that you may have been a baldfaced liar, but the reason I never suspected a lie... is that you never actually told me one."

"You flatter yourself Jane..." he repeats, but his voice is low and quiet and less convincing. He looks as if he'd like to fold into himself, but only succeeds in taking a few unsteady steps back.

"You asked why I don't hate you?" She locks eyes with him. "Because I pity you. Because you thought you had to wear your brother's face for someone to love you, and you have the unenviable talent of telling the truth and having it still come out as a lie."

"My entire existence is a lie. Everything I ever believed to be true turned out to be a lie. I just embraced it. I know my place in the universe." He says this sadly, as if it were a foregone conclusion. A troubled look spreads over his face, and he closes his eyes. "One of my sources alerts me that Fury has an addendum to his interrogation. He's on his way back... you should go."

She throws her hands in the air, the world being no clearer than when she arrived. "Fine."

"Will you go back to him?" _**Who? Thor.**_

"I don't know. When he didn't come back..." She tries to put the thought into words. "I guess we never really got our second chance. He deserves that much."

Loki's gaze turns to ice. "By all means. Give my brother a second, second chance."

"That's not fair," she begins to say, but he cuts her off.

"Life's not fair. Don't I deserve a second chance?"

"Yes." Her answer surprises him. "You've got a lot to atone for. And maybe one day you'll want it badly enough to take it when it comes."

"And you... tell me one day you'll give me a second chance as well."

She moves away from the glass and crosses her arms tightly around her chest. "That depends on you. Tell me something true. As the real Loki. Then we'll see."

He's quiet for so long that the lights begin to turn off from the end of the room with the door. Jane takes one last look at the unmoving figure in the glass cage and runs for the door. By the time she gets there, the room is engulfed in complete darkness.

There is a heart-stopping moment as she fumbles for the door and finds it locked - but then she feels a hand on hers and it clicks open.

In the blinding white light of the hallway beyond, she can make out the features of the White Rabbit. He is so like Loki, but the likeness is not exact, and the familiarity is excruciating.

He smiles sadly and begins to fade away into the darkness. Just before the door shuts completely she is certain she hears a whisper.

"What little love and truth I have, Jane Foster, will always be yours."

When the door shuts, she leans into it and realizes her body is shaking. "I don't believe you..." she whispers back.

But this time, the lie is hers.

* * *

**A/N:**

**I didn't want Jane to fly off the handle, but hopefully she didn't bend over backwards with the logic trying to have that conversation. I think she realizes Loki was telling the truth in his interactions with her (even if his words always have a double meaning), and likely does love her - but the lie feels too big right now, and she needs a bigger gesture from him to forgive him.  
**

**In *trying* to bring them together I'd like to explore the idea that she was initially attracted to Thor, but is horrified that it was actually Loki in disguise that she really fell for. Not an easy thing to reconcile, but I feel like a big lie is something you have to overcome in trying to find the God of Lies a little redemption and love :P  
**

**Reviews/Comments(/Requests for Clarifications, lol) are much appreciated, as always.  
**


	8. Chapter 8: The Test Run & Girl Talk

**A/N:**

**This is a long chapter (twice as long as my usual ones), and I can't decide if I like it as one or two. The next scene/chapter continues to follow this alternating pattern so it would carry over for this particular arc.  
**

* * *

"I can't decide if it was worse waiting for something that would never happen... or coming so close and having it just slip through your fingers."

Jane is startled out of her thoughts as Darcy appears behind her on the roof.

"I don't know. I guess both take a measure of... blind faith, on some level. You just gotta believe that the universe has good things in store for you."

"Yeah. Wait what? This is what happens when you walk that science/magic line - pre-eminent astrophysicist Jane Foster turns into a hippy."

Jane laughs and throws her a blanket as she settles down in the chair beside her. "How's he doing?"

Darcy, normally the quippy little ball of energy around town, had latched onto Luke's rehab as her cause-du-jour, and her mood was often an indicator of how things were going.

"Well I guess. They'll bring him over in the morning. I think it'll do him good to get out for a bit. The bruises are almost gone - I had totally forgotten what he looked like - but I just know he's ready to get on with whatever comes next. There's just that one thing holding him back, and I wish there was something more I could do."

Jane puts her hand on Darcy's arm. "You're doing all you can. More than you need to, in fact." She hesitates. "Why are you doing this?"

"Well, I was barely useful before when it was just the two of us. Then SHIELD steamrolled in and suddenly I'm the dead weight everyone's dragging around."

"That's not true - "

"The only reason he's in there is because he trying to do the right thing by us. I know it was probably you he was saving, but he saved me too. And the entire time he's been in there, no one's gone to see him. I really think he has nobody, so yeah, I'm doing this one thing for him. And I still wish I could do more."

They lapse into silence. Luke had been improving by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks, and the stern-faced agent had turned out to be quite amicable once he started to open up. But no matter how much better he looked there was always the elephant in the room.

_**Would he ever walk again?**_

His chances were low, but Darcy was not ready to give up on him yet. If he was ready to fight, so was she.

* * *

Living two lives is starting to take a toll on Loki. He's never sustained a projection this long, and Lukas Black has managed to not only exist, but to connect to those around him in some inexplicably meaningful way. No matter how long SHIELD questions him, he is always aware of the doctors' tests and Darcy's visits somewhere on the periphery of his mind.

He tries to be completely present when Darcy stops by, because she makes him laugh and she makes time for him. And because she doesn't need to do any of this.

Sometimes, if he's lucky, Jane stops by too. She comes late, and sits by his bed after Darcy leaves. She talks to him when she thinks he's sleeping, and what she says both gives him hope and breaks his heart. He doesn't look forward to these visits because it's excruciating to be so close to her - to feel her hand on his - and to pull away because he isn't going to make the same mistake twice. Mercifully, she has thrown herself into her work lately and her visits are few and far between. Such is the mercy one like him can hope for.

"Up and at 'em Sleeping Beauty!" comes an unpleasantly familiar voice.

Fury strolls in with a wide smile on his face. Loki does not read this as a good thing.

"We're gonna take you on a test drive today so we can see exactly what kind of good behaviour we're gonna get outta you."

Loki forces his face to remain neutral, but inside his interest has been piqued. He has lost count of how long he has been a prisoner in a fishbowl, and though he gets some measure of social interaction through Luke, he is a prisoner in a hospital bed there as well.

"Let's go."

A unit of SHIELD agents enters his cell, guns trained and triggers loose. One of them approaches him and places the shackles on his wrists. They glow an electric blue, and Loki frowns because the energy is familiar in all the wrong ways. If Fury has faith in their ability to hold him, it is because it has not been in his interest to break free of them.

He is led through a maze of hallways and doors - his fishbowl appears to be centered in the largest room on the ship. Coulson waits with Barton and a red-headed female agent, Natasha Romanov they call her, in front of a heavy set of doors.

"Think this is a good idea, boss?" asks Barton, throwing the woman a look, which she returns.

"We're about to find out," says Coulson, though this doesn't even reassure Loki.

The doors open to reveal a large room sectioned off into areas clearly meant for physical training. There is a large roped off mat, and countless guns lining the wall beside the shooting lanes. The centre of the room is taken up by a large open space with a force field of sorts around it.

Loki doesn't get to take in the rest of the room before he comes face to face with the room's current occupants.

Sparring with what looks like a large sack is a beefy blonde man wearing training clothing. He steadies the sack as he catches sight of them.

He sees Erik, who waves to him, and another man with dark wavy hair sitting behind a set of large monitors. The man seems friendly enough, but he watches Loki with the same reserve the others do. He doesn't appear to be training at all.

Off by the shooting range is a somewhat shorter man, who wears a much nicer suit than any worn by SHIELD's agents and raises a drinking glass to Fury as he walks in, which makes Fury shake his head. His height and seeming disconnect from his surroundings is completely dwarfed by the fact that he stands beside Thor in full armour.

Loki feels his muscles go rigid, and he locks eyes with his brother. The tension is palpable, and he is aware it is of his doing. Thor was often a buffoon, but he had always embraced Loki with the same naive abandon as when they were children. Right up until the moment he left his brother sitting in an interrogation room on Midgard.

He has never seen his brother regard him so distantly before, as if he doesn't recognize him.

"Looks like we got ourselves another Space Viking. Let me guess, this is the God of Mischief himself? Tony Stark." He offers his hand, but laughs as Loki looks down at his shackles. "Maybe later then. Since Fury has absolutely no manners - " he begins to point around the room, "Captain America, Dr. Bruce Banner, and... well I suppose you've already met the God of Thunder."

"My name's Steve. Steve Rogers." He slips under the ropes and walks over to Loki to clap him on the shoulder. "Tony keeps insisting on calling me that, but it's just a character. You can call me Steve."

Tony snorts back a laugh. "Not even remotely true. See right now, I'm Tony. When I suit up, I'm Iron Man. Right now we have mild-mannered Dr. Banner, and not the Jolly Green Giant. Sometimes we're one, and sometimes we're the other. You are always Captain America because you're never not the 'roided up super soldier any more than our Space Vikings are humans on their days off."

"Enough!" says Fury, his voice causing the room to descend into silence. "I gathered you all together today because we have a big mission coming up. Now, I know you've all been training, separately and in groups, but you're going to have to work as a team from now on. To that end... we have a volunteer to help us out today."

Loki feels an agent tug on his elbow and he is guided through the force field and into the centre of the room. He hears the shackles on his wrist click open and an agent removes them. To fight as a team they'll need to stop fighting each other and focus on their common enemy.

_**Him? Damn.**_

"You want us to fight... three against one?" Steve is clearly not comfortable with this, and crosses his arms across his chest.

Loki was never one for physical combat. He was as strong as an average Asgardian, an odd advantage on Midgard, but he was a strategist and a sorcerer. And he didn't want to fight his brother.

"No."

"So this is the extent of your cooperation? The first thing we ask of you, and your answer is no." Fury looks disappointed... no, almost disgusted. "Throw him back in his hole."

The SHIELD agents begin to converge upon him again. Finding himself left with two choices: to fight against them as some odd little part of this arrangement, or to turn away an opportunity to prove himself, Loki relents.

"Wait. Alright. I'll try not to hurt you too badly." He says to Steve with a grin. He then turns to Fury. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Don't do this. We can't trust him." Thor's voice sounds uncertain and hurt. Another barb in his chest. "He's not one of us."

"Well he's the God of Mischief, right? Not the God of Evil." Tony walks over to a metal briefcase, which begins unfolding around his hands as soon as he touches it. When he is covered in red and gold armour, there is just enough space for his face to peer through. "I think that makes him one of my kind at least. We can take him."

Steve is unhappy about this, but he picks up his shield. He hesitates over the pistol.

"Got any problems with bullets?" demands Fury.

Loki shrugs. The Midgardians' guns look fairly harmless, and though there are many shoved into his face on a daily basis, he hasn't actually seen one used.

"Thor?" says Romanov, gently.

But Loki does not wait for his brother to join the fray when he pulls Gungnir out from within the folds of his cloak.

_**They had quite literally given him permission, hadn't they?**_

Sparing a quick look at Thor, he waves Iron Man forward with a grin.

* * *

It was nice, sitting under the stars with Darcy. Just like old times. They had covered a lot of ground - Jane's research (going well, but not quite there yet), Darcy's "co-op term" (an agreement brokered by SHIELD in order to keep an eye on her), the fact that they missed Erik now that he had left again. What they decidedly avoided was talking about were two Asgardian Princes of their acquaintance.

But how could Darcy, of all people, resist. "Do you still think about him?"

"It's hard not to, knowing he's sitting in a dark room so close to where I'm working. You know, I even tried to find my way back there the other day?"

Darcy raises an eyebrow. "Actually, I meant Thor. Besides, it's a good thing Loki's buried in some SHIELD hole. It was probably just some terrible chance that let you find him in the first place. He doesn't need another chance to get in your head."

"He said he makes his own chances. I think he somehow made me find him that day. I just don't know what it means that he hasn't tried again." She meets Darcy's gaze again, a little defiantly. "And Thor's just so busy with the Avengers Initiative... even when he's with me he seems distant. Though that's probably my fault too."

She buries her head in her hands.

"Boys. Amirite?" asks Darcy, teasingly. "But you're not seriously putting the two on the same level are you? You fell for Thor. The only reason Loki weaseled his way in was because - you thought he was Thor! Not to mention that a blind person would - "

"Darc, I know! It's not like I haven't gone through the exact same arguments a million times in my head. After Don, I swore I was done with complicated guys... and then there was Thor - kind, and genuine, and sweet."

"And simple...?" Darcy suggests helpfully.

"...exactly! Wait." She glares at Darcy, but laughs. "Thor never has ulterior motives. He tells the truth as if he physically can't lie. He treats me like a princess, which is weird by itself, but he's actually a prince! That's a whole other level of crazy... I just feel swept away and completely overwhelmed whenever I'm around him."

Darcy sighs, exasperated. She tips her empty drink towards her mouth, but nothing comes out. "So what's the problem? If Loki's the opposite: he's a liar, a manipulative bastard, he's a prince who DOESN'T treat you like a princess - which, what's the point of that? - and he doesn't sweep you off your feet. Sounds like the kind of evil jerk I would date. At best he sounds like the dictionary definition of complicated."

Jane is silent.

"Anyways, how could you have kept all of this a secret? We're in the middle of nowhere, I'm just dying for good gossip, and you're holding out on me."

"I may have been talking it out with Luke... while he was asleep. Oh my God, I'm a terrible person! I feel like a total fraud."

Darcy nods. "Yup. As if the poor guy doesn't have enough problems."

"You don't really think he's evil, do you?"

Darcy has become her go-to guide on Norse mythology. After she finished the book Erik brought home from the library, she used her university's access to pull up all sorts of academic research on the Asgardians. She even read the stories to Luke.

"He's not evil. He's just mischievous and vengeful... not a great combination in someone who has to deal with the same people for all eternity. I think he tries... he's kind of at the centre of everything that happens, good and bad. I guess people kind of miss the point on him and jump straight to the bit where he's the reason they all die and the world ends."

She stops and throws Jane a guilty look. "Ok, so when I read about the lot of them I kind of root for him. His lot in life sucks. I guess I would understand if he decided to embrace his fate and go out with a bang."

"I wouldn't," says Jane. She grips the armrests so tightly that her knuckles turn bright white. "He's so much more than pranks and prophecies. I'd be disappointed if he let himself be anything less than he could be."

* * *

Loki is thrown bodily into the force field, his back arching as a wave of electricity snakes through him. This is just for him. When Iron Man and Captain America are thrown against it, they go right through it, and slide through to the room behind. The world beyond is hazy and far away, as if he is looking through the veil of dreams.

He is faster than them, and stronger. He even has the advantage of being able to navigate the virtual world they simulate within the confines of the field. Loki is still a little impressed that their technology could mimic his illusions so well.

He braces himself as Captain America's shield comes flying towards him. The man himself is scaling the side of the building on which Loki stands, a facade that marks the edge of the simulation. At the last moment, he absorbs the shock and leaps off the force field, landing softly several rooftops away.

Loki feels, rather than sees, the little arc reactor behind him. That familiar energy...

"Surprise!" calls Iron Man from behind him, but just as quickly he hears a curse and the suit banks sharply to one side. "I hate ice! Enough with the ice!"

Loki charges Gungnir once more, and vaguely catches a view of his brother, arms crossed, at the edge of the force field. He levels the spear at Thor and challenges him again.

So far, Thor has refused every offer to be allies and enemies that Loki has thrown him. Rightly so, of course, but it was becoming tiring. Even Bruce Banner had joined in the fray, typing furiously at his screen to make cars come flying out of nowhere and buildings disappear just as he was about the land on them. Banner had no choice after Loki decided to add in some simulated illusions of his own.

"What's with the giant snake, Bruce?" Tony flips open his helmet and throws his arms up at Banner.

"It's not me, it's him! WATCH OUT!"

Tony flips his helmet closed and dives out of the way, just as the building collapses under the weight of the snake. He lands beside Steve. "Is that our building or his?"

"Does it matter? If Bruce drops a building on us in the simulation it'll hurt like heck. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to stand under one to find out if Loki's magic works the same way."

Tony grimaces. "Did you just say 'heck'?"

Loki is enjoying himself. _**How often does one get to destroy a city without all the inevitable hand-wringing that usually follows?**_ When Steve jumps across to the next roof, Loki closes his fist and the building disappears. Two can play at that game. Steve is saved when Iron Man plucks him out of the sky.

Thor would never come around if he refused to play Loki's game. He launches himself as close to the force field as possible, electric blue jolts standing between the brothers.

"You make this too easy, brother!"

A mountain begins to rise out of the centre of the city, much to Banner's dismay. The perspective within the simulation changes, and they are all airborne, with Iron Man trying hard not to drop his burden.

"Do you see what I see?" he taunts Thor. This is not the way he'd like to do things, but his brother is being stubborn.

When he launches himself towards the ground, the rest of them are dragged along with his perspective towards Puente Antiguo... and the roof of the old radio station where Jane and Darcy watch the sky.

Loki is prepared when he hears a roar of anger from behind him, and allows himself to be thrown across the sky as his brother slams into him.

"Why did you have to ruin EVERYTHING?" Thor is pumping his grip on Mjolnir as he prepares to throw it.

"Me? I never planned for any of this to happen! It's not my fault that they'd prefer to be ruled by your incompetence rather than acknowledging me!"

Loki twists sharply as Mjolnir goes flying past his head, and then groans as it clips his shoulder on the way back.

"I was always on your side! I believed you were good... that you meant well, and so I always defended you! And you repay me by trying to kill our friends? By hurting the woman I love? By lying to me? We can't even look at each other without thinking that it's you she sees!" His voice cracks, and Loki feels tears spring to his eyes as he watches his brother fall apart.

"I'm the one that has to watch the two of you hate me, when I love you both so much..." he says quietly. But the words feel feeble on his tongue.

When he lunges for Loki, a blast from Gungnir sends Thor flying backwards into Iron Man. For a moment, Tony loses his grip on Steve, and has to dive down to retrieve him as soon as he recovers from the hit. This time he flies through the force field and crashes into the ground alongside the awestruck audience.

He grins up at Fury, trying to catch his breath between words. "Was this what you had in mind all along? Tell the truth. You secretly watch Jerry Springer, don't you?"

Fury's steel gaze follows the brothers as they battle. "I couldn't think of anyone better to snap Thor out of his funk. And I needed to assess Loki's powers without waiting for him to escape."

"Oh, great. Next time warn a guy. Your viking just dented my suit."

Loki turns his back to Thor, knowing he's risking his life. He senses something is wrong, but he is under two layers of illusion in an unfamiliar environment. It takes him a moment to pick out the brilliant colour on the horizon.

"Thor..." he starts to say, but he feels Mjolnir smash into the back of his skull and his mind explodes into brilliantly coloured stars.

The pain is immense. So immense that his vision blacks out completely, and he cannot hear what Thor is saying. A very shaky survival instinct tells him he needs to get away, get as far away as possible, but his body refuses to acknowledge the need to move. He's confused when he feels his sudden descent halted as Thor's arm slides around him and he is lowered to the ground.

"You don't get to die on me." Thor's voice is far, far away. All Loki can see are stars and the twilight green tendrils of light in the night sky. "You don't get to leave me with your mess so you can wipe the slate clean."

"Thor," he chokes, trying to raise his hand.

"That's enough," yells Romanov "End the simulation! Sir, we need to get him medical attention!"

The world is fading now. He can see through the mountains, and the Avengers are rushing in on him from all sides.

"So... the experiment was either a disaster or a great success..." Tony shrugs as Coulson throws him a look and calls for back up and a medical team. "So, not a great success then?"

Loki draws on that hateful poison and wills the bones in his skull to knit together, he wills his muddled brain to reform. The effort of trying to heal himself so quickly leaves him weak, but he forces himself to sit up.

"Wait... cancel that?" says Coulson into his phone.

"That was... disgusting." Tony cringes but his curiousity overwhelms his gag-reflex and he pokes at the wound in Loki's head. Natasha smacks his hand away.

She and Thor help steady his shoulders.

"You have every reason to hate me. But you said you knew me. Hear this then, and tell me to my face that you think I'm lying. I love her. I didn't mean to, but I love her. And I would be happy to leave you both to your happiness if I knew she didn't care for me too. But she does! I don't know why, but she does. And I won't abandon her until she sends me away."

Thor says nothing, but steadies his brother's head while he shifts his shoulders painfully. A sharp crack, and Loki's neck straightens once more.

"I hate you for everything you've done. I want to hate you. Let's be clear on that. But I never lost hope in you, and I'd hate myself even more if I crushed the last bit of good in your black little heart. Oh, and let's be clear on something else - I want to see her happy too, but I'm not giving up on her without a fight."

He can hear Tony making a snarky comment to Banner, who smothers a laugh. The SHIELD agents are starting to disperse, and Fury and Coulson are talking off to the side.

"Then listen to me, brother. Would you believe me when I say I would do anything to keep her safe?"

Thor hesitates, but it is not because he doesn't trust Loki's words. "Yes."

"Would you believe that I didn't mean any harm when I used my magic to take us to her location in Dr. Banner's illusion?"

Thor hesitates again, and a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Maybe. You've always enjoyed provoking me a little too much. Hard to tell."

Loki tries to stand, helped along greatly when Thor shoulders most of his weight. "Thank you, _brother_," he says sarcastically, but he's running out of time and has spent all he can afford in trying to win his brother over. "Then you must believe me when I saw tendrils of green in the night sky and it was not of my doing."

"Is the Einstein-Rosen bridge returning? Are more of your people on their way?" asks Erik.

Thor frowns, trying to read Loki's face. "No... the bridge is broken. It took... other means to bring me here. Someone is coming, but they are no friend to us..."

Loki nods, momentary relief flooding through him. He didn't realize how much he missed that certainty before - knowing that Thor would stand by his side against the world.

But the moment is short lived as Fury demands to know what the hell a green sky has to do with anything.

"Jane's in danger. We all are..."

* * *

**A/N:**

**They're not fixed yet, but they're getting there. I like all of them, and coming up with a way to handle Loki's lies, Jane being in the middle, and the fact that I like Thor too much to make him a douche, makes it incredibly hard.  
**

**Reviews/Comments/Questions appreciated, as always!  
**


	9. Chapter 9: Jane & The Nightmare Realm

**A/N:**

**It's ok if you can't figure out *what* the threat is. I've put a brief note about the thought process behind it at the end. But if you're confused as you read - generally the answer is a little bit of: truth, lies and magic.  
**

* * *

The sky turns a sickly shade of luminescent green, putting the pale moonlight to shame as it spreads throughout the night. It is so all encompassing, that unbeknownst to the quiet town of Puente Antiguo, the entire hemisphere sleeps beneath its reach.

"What now?" asks Darcy, as she and Jane walk to the edge of the roof to stare up at the sky. The air has developed a sudden chill, and she pulls the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "I could honestly use a break from any more excitement."

_Jane._

"Did you hear that?" asks Jane, her body rigid with fear.

"Yeah. It said my name..."

"Your name...? But I heard..."

_Jane._

Darcy's face is pale and drawn with fear, mirroring the terror Jane herself feels. She tries to reason her way through the fear, but it is deep and primal, and there is no past experience that can adequately explain why the approaching darkness terrifies her.

"We shouldn't be here," whispers Jane, though there isn't any place on earth that feels safe to her anymore. She reaches for Darcy's hand, but is forced to hug herself when she cannot find her.

The darkness that spreads isn't so much a lack of light, as a lack of hope. Jane can feel its tendrils wrap around her limbs like a cold embrace. She can no longer distinguish between the black void of stars in the sky and her own sight, as the world fades away into nothingness.

She calls for Darcy. For Thor. For Loki. But no one answers.

* * *

A piercing scream wakes her with a start, though it is not until she becomes conscious of the searing pain in her throat that she realizes it comes from her.

_**What is WRONG with me? What is this place?**_

She squints into the emptiness and only succeeds in causing tiny bursts of colour to appear from the pressure on her eyes. Except... one spot in particular seems to be steadying... growing in fact. The light of a candle flickers. As it gets closer, she can hear the soft pattering of small feet, and eventually it illuminates the face of a young boy. He comes close enough to lean in and squint at her face before recognition dawns on her.

"What's your name little boy?"

The question apparently offends him... no, not the question, being called a little boy.

"I am Loki, son of Odin. I am no mere boy!"

An affectionate smile spreads over her lips as she takes in the indignant pout and the little stomp of his foot. But his hands shake ever so slightly as they clasp the candle, and when he loses focus, even a little, his green eyes dart nervously towards the all-encompassing darkness.

"I'm sorry Loki, but I don't know where I am."

He nods, knowingly. "That is because this is the nightmare place. I am certain you are not real. Perhaps neither am I." He puffs his chest out a bit, and offers one trembling hand. "But I am a son of Odin, and a Prince of Asgard. I will protect you."

Jane wants to laugh and cry all at the same time at the absurdity of the boy in front of her. He is earnest and kind, and she sees in him every good thing she has ever looked for in her own Loki. And yet, such gravitas seems entirely out of place in someone so young. So instead of laughing, she thanks him and takes his hand.

When the candle suddenly blows out, she feels rather than hears his fear, as he squeezes her hand tight.

"I wish Thor was here..." she hears him whisper in the darkness.

When the light suddenly reappears like an explosion, it is white hot and blinds them for a moment. Jane finds herself trying to shield the boy with her body.

He regains his sight before she does, and begins to tell her off for her mothering... but then he looks around them, and his jaw drops.

They are standing in a dark void of light, but there is a long table, set for a feast, and at it sit several beings that are lit so brightly from within that Jane cannot stand to look at them.

_Jane Foster. You are of no consequence to us, mortal. Give us the boy. _The voice is a hiss, like gas escaping through a tiny hole.

"No," she says, and pulls the child into her arms. He no longer protests, but stares in blank horror at the figures.

"Don't look at them, Loki."

"They have my brother..."

When she looks up, Jane sees a giant, ghostly viking holding the small, limp form of a boy. A boy whose tousled golden hair is matted with blood.

"Oh my God... Thor..." she whispers. Loki leans against her, his body limp with horror.

_The Asgardians belong to us, and we will have them._

The figure does the unthinkable, and hurls the the limp form of the boy with a god's strength.

"Thor!" Loki breaks from her arms and runs towards his brother.

Jane is aware the the light is fading in the darkness behind her... or perhaps growing on all sides... her focus is on reaching the two small boys.

Loki kneels beside his brother, trying to lift him into a sitting position. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to get hurt!"

To her surprise Thor is not only alive, but he laughs, though his face is scrunched with pain. "How did you talk me into this? What did you think would happen when you tried to steal Father's horse?"

**_What is this?__ A memory?_**

"I thought I would be crushed... it's quite literally the reason why I talked you into coming with me..."

"You said we were going on a great warrior's adventure. But then again, you were always a talented liar, brother."

Another laugh from Thor, and she feels a pang in her heart. No matter how angry she is, or how bad her day, Jane normally can't help joining in with that laughter. Its infectious nature is Thor's good nature. And she had loved him for it. Even Loki smiles, admiration for his big brother clearly written on his face.

"Is your leg broken?"

"Yes. You'll have to help me get home without Father seeing."

"Father will know. Heimdall probably already knows." He draws a deep breath. "Father will be angry at me."

"Nonsense. I'm the one who broke into the stables. I'm the one who lost a fight to Slepnir."

"He will be proud that you fought. He will be disappointed that I talked you into to, and that I did not fight myself."

"Can I help?" she asks. Her voice seems to startle the boys, and Thor pulls out a small dagger from his belt.

"Who threatens the Sons of Odin?"

"Sorry, no threat. Come on Loki, I've been here the whole time. Tell him."

Loki stands, his brow furrowed. He is taller now, and bears the awkward lanky limbs of an adolescent on the cusp of manhood. The earnest child has all but disappeared, and left in its placed a lean, hungry looking boy, that nonetheless has the face of youthful invincibility and uncertainty. _**When did he...?**_ His eyes narrow, reflecting a suspicion that was not there before.

"You don't belong here."

They are standing once more in the darkness, alone. He opens his palms wide and blows on them. A pale, green light emerges and he lifts it to examine her face.

"You seem familiar, Midgardian, and yet I know you not. What business have you in the nightmare realm?"

"I think I'm lost... or I was kidnapped... I'm not sure..." she stammers. "What are you still doing here?"

He eyes her with careful suspicion. "My brother has his precious hammer and his battles. I am too young, and clearly unworthy of such a gift." The bitterness in his voice surprises her, but this too seems familiar. "I am here to prove myself through my own means."

_**How sad that a boy would feel that braving a nightmare realm was his only means to prove himself to those he loves. Poor brave, foolish boy,**_ she thinks. Jane shudders, and tries to remember what home feels like. But there is only darkness.

"You should go home, Loki, to your family and your friends. You shouldn't be here either."

A mischievous glint appears in his eye and he smiles that oh-so-familiar smile. "You don't even know where here is, friend. There are answers here." He gives her a conspiratorial wink. "There is magic here. Thor never had the head for magic. Far too much reading..."

His face grows serious. "But I cannot linger, and know not why you choose to. They will come soon."

"Who will come? The ghosts?"

"Ghosts? No, they are neither living nor dead. They are gods and gods of gods. Even Odin and his pet, Heimdall, fear them. They seek nothing but our destruction, which they feed off of, and to that end they use and manipulate us. We are all someone's pawns... I may not be able to fight Frost Giants, but I will find a way to save Asgard from this. And then he will see me as worthy."

"Loki," she says his name to remind herself of the earnest little boy and the man she sometimes catches glimpses of on earth. "All these dark secrets and lies... they're not you..."

"What do you know of me?" he scoffs, "Oh! But they come... tell me, will I ever see you again?"

"I'm not sure how all this works... but I think so."

He smiles his most winning smile. "I'm glad."

And then he is gone, and she is left once more in darkness.

_**This is getting to be too much. I just want to go home.**_ Jane suspects that she keeps seeing visions of Loki because he is in someway tied to this place, and more than that, is in some danger. _**I wish my Loki was here...** _But when did she start thinking of him as her own?

When she hears the anguished scream, she nearly jumps out of her skin.

This time there is no mistaking the sleek dark hair and tall, narrow frame. He is once more the Loki she remembers, though he is crouched on the ground, rocking something back and forth.

"Oh, Loki..." she says. The boy, so eager to please, the youth so desperate for attention, the man that was such a mystery to her.

He looks at her, his eyes wide and wild. "Would you haunt me even now, Jane?"

"You know me! Finally... wait, what do you mean haunt?"

Loki walks up to her and places his hands on either side of her face, brushing away the strands of hair that fall into it. He searches her eyes for something. She's never seen him so pale and haggard, not even in prison after enduring a beating from Thor.

"I don't understa-"

He silences her with a kiss. It is so many things - cold, desperate, deep, and wistful. When he finally pulls away, she gasps.

Beyond him, she can now see the darkness that envelopes the world, but it is the light that strikes fear in her heart. They stand alone on top of Stark Tower in New York city, watching as the city goes up in flames. Further still, in the vast expanse of the sky, she can see another planet looming large and threatening, but this one is frozen and dead.

"What's happening?"

"I thought I lost you..."

She has to physically push him away to look beyond him now, and that's when she sees the body on the rooftop.

_**Her body.**_

"I - I don't understand. What is this?"

He stares ahead, unseeing, and a familiar bright white hot light pours forth from his eyes._ "This is how the world ends. The Asgardians have lived many lives. And they have died many deaths. Loki Lie-Smith, God of Mischief, God of Lies, is ever their downfall with his malice and trickery. He always repents before the end, but never in time."_

The words coming from his lips feel like ice. Jane reaches out her hand and touches his feverish skin, knowing that whatever is speaking to her is only wearing Loki's face.

"Wake up, Loki, please! I know this isn't you!"

_"But this time there is Jane Foster, who should be of no consequence, but instead gives the boy cause to break the cycle. Twice now you have disappointed us Jane. It is Thor's destiny to kill the snake and die in the effort. It is Loki's destiny to bring about Ragnarok and die as he kills Heimdall. It is not your place to change their hearts. It is not your place to change the future."_

Jane wants to rail at them, to spit out her fury at being forced to stand idly by while they tear the world, and this one man, to pieces.

_"Jane Foster, you should be of no consequence. This is our offer, go back to Midgard. Forget about gods and godly things. Thor will die in battle, as a Thunder God should, and Loki will destroy the world. This is and always has been his fate. If you continue to meddle, be assured you too will die. But not before you see the man you love destroy the whole world in your name. Be sure that Midgard will suffer most of all, and you more than that still."_

Loki, or whatever is possessing him, walks backwards away from her and without looking, leaps over the side of the building.

When she wakes she is screaming and crying, choking on her own fear and emotion.

"Jane! Stop it please! You're scaring me!" Darcy speaks in short sentences, and tries to hold her head still as she thrashes. "Oh thank God you're here... I don't know what happened, but she's really scaring me."

The darkness is still with her, but she feels herself lifted and hears a steady, rhythmic beat. _**Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.**_

When she wakes, Thor is holding her in his arms, and it is his heart she can hear as she lays against his chest. She is on the roof, where she first saw the darkness, though now Darcy is accompanied by the Avengers and Loki.

Loki walks over, and lowers himself so their eyes are level. "You're safe now, Jane. Whatever it was? It's gone."

She can feel tears spring to her eyes again, and is slightly embarrassed to cry in front of the newly assembled SHIELD team.

"It's not gone, Loki. You're still here..." She reaches out and pulls him into the embrace. She buries her face in his hair. "You're still here..."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I totally, totally started reading A Journey Into Mystery, and I think it shows as far as swerving away from the loosey-goosey character driven direction and committing to a mythology specific to this story.**

**I needed an evil force that wasn't connected to the (still broken) BiFrost & Asgard, and stumbled upon the beings that feed off the energy of the Ragnarok cycle (though not actually in A Journey Into Mystery if you think *that's* who it is). Basically, rather than having a physical force to fight, we have a far older, more powerful enemy working against Loki's redemption for their own ends. In the comics, it was Jane and Thor that derailed their cycle, and it was Odin they took their anger out on. But I'm repurposing it a bit for our favourite villain ;), and will name them when the characters figure it out.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Destiny of a God

"So we're back to this, are we?" Loki flinches slightly as the walls of his great glass cage slide shut. "I thought we were all friends now. Don't you trust me?"

Coulson finishes going over the security checks, and double-checks, and triple-checks - and only then looks up from his paperwork. "We'll get back to you on that." The other agents file out of the room after him.

"And you, brother?"

Thor is lost in thought, his hand kneading his chin pensively. "I don't like this, Loki. Why would something go through all the effort of coming to Midgard and then just leave?"

"It didn't just leave. It made contact." Loki has to check a smile at his brother's incoherent expression.

"I need to know she's alright, but she won't talk to me about what happened. She just keeps saying it all had to be a dream."

"Give her time. She's not a warrior like you, Thor, she won't fight her problems with her fists. Her way through any problem will require time and thought - and an infinitely more elegant approach. Jane is more like..."

"... You?"

Thor's words are challenging, and he starts to pace up and down the perimeter of the fishbowl like a predator.

"I was going to say like Mother..." Now it is Loki's turn to fight against overwhelming emotion. "Your mother. But what can I say? When you're right, you're right."

There is something cruel between them again, but it is Thor that cracks beneath it first.

"Loki, I have never known you as anything other than my brother. You have been by my side since we were boys, through every childish mishap and bloody battle. No matter what trifling truths were revealed about your past, or how hard you try to push us all away - I will always put my faith in you. I will always fight to protect you... even from yourself."

Loki sighs and throws up his hands in frustration. He allows himself to lean back against the glass and slide down to the floor. On the other side of the glass he hears Thor do the same. There's a loud *thud* as Mjolnir settles in beside him.

"What are we going to do?" asks Thor.

Neither of them mentions her name.

"We are at a disadvantage here. We know nothing about the green shadow from last night or what its purpose was."

"Except that we've both apparently seen it before. It approached Asgard many years ago. I was a young warrior at the time, and the All-Father gathered all his legions in anticipation of its arrival. This is something far beyond us both..."

For some reason, Loki finds this upsetting. "I don't remember this..."

Thor shrugs his shoulders. "You weren't yet counted among Asgard's warriors. Father forbade it. Which also begs the question - why would you recognize it?"

"I don't know... it's just a feeling I had, a half-forgotten memory of a dream. Why would Father forbid it? You accompanied him into battle since you were able to hold a sword!"

"Brother, focus!"

Loki slouches back down, and tries to cram the questions, along with the jealousy, back down his throat. "I feel like I've been there before. A place of doubts and darkness."

"A place of pain and defeat," adds Thor. "It comes back to me..."

"If the All-Father feared it so greatly, we would do well to not underestimate what it could mean that it is here..."

"Ah, brother. I know that tone. You have a plan, don't you?"

Loki ignores the question, but instead turns to face his brother. "Leave me, I need some time alone to think. But, go to her. Keep her safe. And whatever you do, don't let her fall asleep."

* * *

Loki is startled from his thoughts when he feels a hand on his, and realizes he is looking through Luke's eyes instead of his own.

_**I'm too busy for this right now, Darcy!**_

The fluorescent lights blind him, and the faint smell of antiseptic floods his sense of smell.

But it is not Darcy, but Jane, in the chair beside his bed, her head resting at the edge of his pillow, and her hand grasping his.

_**No! Jane, you can't sleep!**_

He tries to wake her by shaking her hand, her arm, her shoulder. Panic begins to set in when she does not stir.

Loki lied when he told Thor he did not remember the Nightmare Realm. While Odin and Thor prepared to face the tendrils of darkness head on, Loki was in a feverish nightmare. The Nightmare Realm did not conquer and devour like an army... it would creep slowly into the mind of just one person and plant a seed of doubt and fear.

It had come for him when he was a boy, and now it was only ever one bad dream away.

Loki takes Jane's hand and places it over his heart. He closes his eyes and lets everything he has spent so many months holding back - the jealousy, the betrayal, the guilt, the grief... - everything poured out, filling the empty spaces of his mind until it was all he knew again.

By the time he drifts into the dream world, he is already drowning in his own pain.

* * *

The world is utter, soul-crushing darkness. And then there is a voice that is older and crueller than anything the universe still knows.

_Have you returned to play our games, Loki Lie-Smith?_

"I'm here to take my friend home," he announces to the emptiness. "I have no quarrel with you."

_Aye, but we have a quarrel with you. You seek to break our deal. Son of Laufey. Son of Odin. No one breaks deals with the old ones, little godling_.

"Take me to Jane Foster!" he commands, mustering whatever reserves of courage he has remaining.

The response is shrill laughter, the legion mocking the child that gives orders like a king.

Loki sees a quick movement in the dark, and instinctively gives chase. The figure is quick and crafty - more than once it changes direction or disappears into the darkness, only to reappear in a completely different place. Loki knows this game, and he despises it.

"Come on, old man," comes the taunt, ending with a whisper "You must hurry!"

By this time, he has run into a familiar looking garden, and when the figure stops he recognizes it instantly as his brother many, many years ago.

"You're too slow, Loki! Stop following me!"

"I'm not too slow!" he says, but he is panting, and when he stands again he is eye level with the little boy. From behind him, Thor's friends appear, the future Warrior's Three, and a slip of a girl name Sif.

"If you wish to prove it to us, you have to fight. Then you may join us."

Loki eyes them, knowing he doesn't stand a chance in a fair fight. "Let us not say a fight, because we all know I am faster than any of you and will not be caught for you to beat."

They roar with laughter, but he holds his ground.

"If you truly want a challenge, I've already thought of a better one - let us say that whoever obtains the greatest champion's weapon is the winner."

Thor frowns and places a hand upon his dagger. "I already have a champion's weapon. But I suspect you'd rather we break into Father's treasure room to do so, rather than to find a more amicable way."

"Are you not up for the challenge, brother?"

This is all it takes. A little push, a few words here and there. Thor was never one to overly question a challenge.

He takes a step and feels the jump in time. They are in the treasure room, having successfully distracted the guards and snuck inside. Though they are working against each other, the brothers' approach is complementary, and they accept rather than sabotage the advantage of the other's presence.

"Ready to give up brother?" Thor is older now. He is taller than their father, and broad shouldered. He wears his hair long upon his shoulders, and the beautiful armour gifted to him by their mother. Loki has been given a similar gift, in beautiful gold and green, though he has not had the opportunity to wear it yet. In this, her hopes for their future glory, their mother holds them in equal regard.

"The challenge was to choose the greatest weapon. I'm not sure if you could choose something truly great if it fell out of the sky and dropped on your thick skull."

Loki turns and surveys the room, but he already knows what he will claim as his prize.

_**The Casket of Winters.**_

It is a symbol of their father's greatest victory and the strength of Asgard. _**Who knows what untold power it contains?**_ Loki moves toward it.

"Loki, look!" There is so much excitement in Thor's voice that he can barely contain it, but his voice dies out at the end. "Father... we..."

Odin's wrath is instant and humbling. They were not as stealthy as they believed, and had been discovered. The boys stand together and weather the onslaught, but there is something different this time. Despite his fury, he is actually proud of his eldest son.

"... but perhaps Fate smiles upon us, despite your boyish idiocy. It appears that the mighty hammer Mjolnir has deemed you worthy to wield its power. This is truly a great day." He turns to Loki, and his face grows angrier still. "As for you, is this the taste of the future deceptions and manipulation for which you have such a predilection? Are we to spend all eternity looking over our shoulder for the moment you choose to stab us in the back for your own gain?"

"Father, please..."

"Do you deny being a liar?"

"No, but..."

"A thief?"

"No."

"A disappointment of the kind only a father, who must witness his weak and unworthy child, could understand?"

Loki can feel hot tears spring into his eyes, which are only held back by the wall around his heart. These are questions that the All-Father has never asked him in person, but reflects the truth Loki always suspected. Having never told him of his true parentage, what other horrible truths was the All-Father hiding?

"It's not true, Father... I am worthy... I will be, I promise. Jane thinks..."

He pauses because the answer is just beyond his grasp and the world is becoming foggy again. There are far too many things assailing the walls that are supposed to protect him, and he is beginning to feel panic overwhelm his senses.

"Jane pities you," says Thor, "but in her heart she knows better. More's the pity, because all she will get for her efforts is gross disappointment when she discovers that you were a monster all along."

"Enough!" He throws off the cloak of shadow with his outburst, and is once again surrounded by darkness.

This game is familiar. A nightmare in this realm is never just a monster jumping out at you, never that simplistic. Rather, it begins with the familiar and roots the mind in its reality before it begins to tear at the soul.

"Is that all you have? A memory to twist? You'll have to do far, far better that. I make my own chances in life."

_Far from it little godling. Your incessant feelings of inadequacy make this far too easy, and we encourage you to choose your own direction. What matters that to us? No matter which direction you choose, all paths are ours. You will fulfill your destiny._

"And what is my destiny?"

A pale, thin laughter drifts through the air around him.

_You are destined to be a saviour, Loki. You are destined to change the world forever._

Loki can feel the seed of doubt being planted in his mind. He was second-born, and had always taken for granted that it was Thor's place to be the hero. He understood early on that, for him to attempt to dethrone his brother would fly in the face of all that is good and just in the world.

His recent attempts to prove himself to their father, only cemented this notion.

But he is the God of Lies, and he can sense the lie as it is being spoken. _**Must it be such an attractive deception, though?**_

When he does not answer, the laughter resumes, quieter and more sinister.

"Enough. I came for my friend, not to be taunted by your lies. Let me see her."

The fog begins to shift again, and he can see that he stands on the roof of a tall building on Midgard. Jane slips her hand into his.

"I always believed in you, Loki." She leans her head on his shoulder and runs the tips of her fingers along the edge of his jaw. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint..."

The gentle pressure from her fingertips is all it takes to turn his head, and before he can register what is happening, her mouth has claimed his.

If the memory of his father... the All-Father... had strengthened the walls around his heart, the touch of this woman brings them crumbling down around him again.

He is laid bare, lost and vulnerable in her arms. And he loses himself into her embrace, despite the fact that, as always, it is just another lie.

"You're not Jane..." he says, sorrowfully, when he is finally able to pull himself away. He is ashamed of his weakness and desperation.

The hollow image of Jane smiles at him and flicks her tongue across her lips. _"I'm Jane. I'm better than Jane. I can give you anything you need - assurance, gratification, control... power?"_

"What about love?" asks an instantly recognizable voice from the shadows. "Can you give him that too?"

"Jane!" Loki extricates himself from the hollow image's grip and runs to her, folding her into his arms as soon as he reaches her. "She isn't... it's this place..."

"I know," says Jane, but her eyes are full of pity and he thinks back to Thor's words. "Oh, Loki... please, tell me something true..."

He thinks about this for a moment and then comes to an irreversible decision. "Agent Lukas Black is a creation of mine. It was the only way I could protect you, and yet it tore me apart to lie to you. I'm so sorry."

Jane takes a moment to absorb this information and then nods. "I felt I could trust him... I've never been so honest with anyone in my life. But no more, ok? Please... this is already too much for me..."

"No more..." he murmurs in agreement, and kisses her on the forehead. She nods again, as if she's come to a decision, and she places her hands on his chest.

"It keeps trying to show me how this all ends... and how it's all my fault..."

"No! No... this place is full of lies and half-truths. You cannot believe anything you remember here. None of this is your fault..."

The hollow image of Jane laughs, drawing their attention back towards the edge of the roof. _"But let's just say it was... let's play a very simple game. What if I told you that all this, the entire world, was about to be destroyed, and you could save it with just one choice..."_ She holds out her hand to him.

"Don't..."

_"All you have to do is take my hand, and it all ends here. We leave your precious Midgard and everyone on it goes about their lives as if you never existed. We'll save your precious Jane, and everyone she loves - even go so far as to make sure you're erased from her memory forever." She makes a mocking, pouty face. "We'll even spare her from ever feeling your loss."_

Loki can feel Jane's grip tighten around him. "What would I have to do?"

_"What needs to be done. That's all you need to know - that and the alternative is that we dissolve this planet in a nightmare filled eternity of fear and pain. I promise you personally that Jane will suffer most of all."_

His shirt feels damp where Jane's tears spill over onto it. "I'm so confused. Are they lying to you or to me? Or to both of us?"

"Likely the latter." He brushes away the streaks of tears on her cheeks with his thumb. He can play the liar's game with ease since he can recognize the lies and manipulate them to his benefit... but regardless if what she says is a truth or a lie, it comes out honest and untainted from her lips. He can get no read on its authenticity.

"They said you are the destroyer of worlds, and that you would do so in my name..."

"Do you believe any of that nonsense?"

"Of course not... but... I just have to be sure, Loki... if you had to choose, between saving the world and saving me...?"

He pulls away from her slightly so that she can look up into his eyes and see the sincerity. "I'm sorry Jane... I would choose you every time..." The image of Thor destroying the BiFrost comes unbidden to his mind.

The hollow image laughs, and suddenly she has her arms around him, pulling him away from Jane. _"Submit to destiny, Loki... this one time only, we're offering the chance to save the girl and her world."_

Jane tries to run back towards him, but no matter how fast she moves, she only seems to fall farther and farther away.

"It's all a lie, Loki! You can't believe anything they say! We have to wake up!"

He watches her disappear into the darkness, his entire body immobile as the hollow image runs her hands up the length of his torso and plants kisses at the nape of his neck.

_"What is your answer? Loki Lie-Smith. Son of Odin. Son of Laufey. God of Mischief and Lies. Will you submit to destiny?"_

* * *

Jane wakes with a gasp, nearly falling out of her chair. The first thing she does is jump up onto the bed beside Luke and gently try to wake him.

"Loki! Loki, answer me. Wake up!"

In response, the machines he is hooked up to strike up a long, high-pitched wail and the cardiac monitor flatlines.

"No! You can't leave me like this! What do I do? You said you were here to protect me, well do something, goddamit!" She's shaking his shoulders so violently, at this point, that several leeds detach from his body and dangle in the air.

"Jane..." She turns to find Thor standing, wide-eyed, in the doorway. "Why do you call for my brother to this human's body?"

"It's Loki's... he said it was here to protect me..."

"One of his tricks, you mean?"

At this moment, Jane wants to hit him. _**How could he be so cruel when it was Loki, sorry Luke, dying in that hospital bed? **_When Thor grabs her arm to pull her away, she snaps and lashes out at his arms and his chest.

"Don't say that! You don't know him like I do..."

Thor's mouth is set in a firm, thin line, but he loosens his grip and tries to calm her down. "I love my brother more than you know, but I really do know him better than you. This is one of his tricks. I'm starting to believe he may be pulling a larger one still... one that even I am a pawn in..."

"What makes you say that?"

Thor jerks his chin towards Luke. "You tell me."

As the nurses and a code team rush in, Jane and the entire room stand in confusion at the wailing monitor and the empty bed.

"Oh, Loki..." she whispers, "What have you done?"

* * *

**A/N:**

**Saw The Avengers - loved it. I feel like it helped flesh out a lot of my ideas about Loki, the relationship between Thor and Loki after the end of THOR, and how SHIELD looks/operates..**

**Basically, since this is a post-THOR story, I don't feel like The Avengers has seriously derailed everything I was trying to write about, but rather helped me focus my ideas. I'm going to move forward with the characterizations established in that movie, but continue to write. I wasn't expecting to like this turn of events regarding the Nightmare Realm/evil old gods so much.**

**Since the question might come up - we don't know what Loki has chosen, or how he's approaching things at this point. Just that he has been given a choice, and Jane is seeing one of the immediate consequences of whatever it is he's doing.**

**Reviews/Comments/Thoughts much appreciated!**


	11. Chapter 11: The Seeds of Discord

There are alarms blaring all over the helicarrier, and Natasha sprints down the hallways so fast that everyone in her path has to flatten themselves against the wall or risk a collision.

"This is Agent Romanova, I need an update!" she yells, and her earpiece crackles to life.

"We have a breach in the prisoner containment unit. All security protocols have been taken offline - we're working on getting them up and running. Agent Barton is en route to the unit as we speak. We recommend you approach with caution, as we have no eyes and ears on the prisoner."

"Roger."

She unholsters her gun and flicks the safety off as she runs.

_**Goddam Loki. **_ It was nearly impossible to get a read on the man as he swung wildly between being a threat and an ally. Part of her understood. As a spy, or more importantly as a double agent, she knew the careful dance one undertook, and the adaptability it required depending on the situation. The important part was knowing who you are, and where to find your moral compass. Everything else was just window dressing.

_**But this is all a game to him! **_Loki was a loose cannon, and clearly, had no allegiance to anyone but himself. That made him dangerous.

When she arrives, the door to the containment unit is blasted open and she enters to find Loki standing, impossibly calm, in the centre of his prison cell. Part of her mind takes in the smoking ruins of computer equipment and the agents lying like broken ragdolls, but she cannot take her eyes off Loki as he holds Barton off the floor by his neck in order to block a clear shot at himself.

"Put him down, Loki!" Her voice matches his calmness, but there is a dangerous glint in her eyes that warns him. "I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Likewise."

From within the vise-like grip, Barton chokes. "What's your game, Loki? I thought you were on our side. I thought we had a deal!"

The god raises an eyebrow. "Do you normally keep those on _your side_ locked in a cage like an animal? Perhaps I just tired of your _hospitality_." He leans in close, and Natasha catches only the end of what he whispers to Clint. "...this was always the deal..."

Barton is starting to lose consciousness, the momentum of his kicking steadying to a twitchy swing.

Natasha makes a move towards the control panel, but Loki shakes his head. "Tsk, tsk. That's exactly what got poor Agent Barton into his current predicament. I wouldn't do that if I were you." His smile is icy cold, and the perverse pleasure he seems to be taking in the situation infuriates her further. "Although, on second thought... I'd be happy to skip all those pesky middle steps where I offer you the deal of a lifetime and we argue about it for a bit before you realize you have no other choice and accept. Ask Barton."

"How do I even know that's actually Agent Barton in there? Isn't that your favourite party trick? Illusions?"

"Oh absolutely. There's nothing so amusing as accenting reality _just enough_ that you start to lose sight of the line." He places both hands around Barton's skull, preparing to snap his neck. "I'm willing to risk that he's just a party trick. Are you?"

"You've already met The Avengers. They're really only focused on one thing - and it already says it on the can."

He lowers Barton, and allows the man's feet to touch the floor. Barton hazily comes to, but Loki does not release his hold on the man's neck. "I have no quarrel with my brother's band of misfits. But even you must realize they cannot hold me here forever. Perhaps I'm just ready to go home now. Would you deny me this, Agent Romanova? Would you deny me the chance to go home and make amends? To seek forgiveness?"

Natasha feels her jaw clench. "Not everyone deserves forgiveness..."

She is surprised at the anger that flares into his eyes. If ever he seemed merely sneaky or potentially amicable, all that has disappeared and every nerve in her body screams out in anticipation of danger. "Speak for yourself, assassin."

In one motion she leaps over the control panel and releases a switch. Loki grabs Agent Barton by his shoulders and slams his head so hard into the glass wall that the blood begins to puddle as soon as it hits the floor. The god sprints towards her.

Her anger rises into a hard lump in her throat, and she lets off a barrage of bullets. The sound is deafening and intense, and it is only the skill and focus of the two combatants that allows them to continually redirect their attacks as they clash.

She is unprepared for how lithely he moves, and the malevolence that surges into his eyes before each hit. They grapple physically, and her gun falls to the ground. He is strong, locking her in his grip when he is able to catch her, but she is fast and continually slips through his fingers. They have violently flung each other across the entire room, but she realizes they are back in the cell when the hand she uses to steady herself as she falls comes back covered in Clint's blood.

"I don't understand. You had to have the means to escape to take out those agents and to grab Barton - why didn't you just leave?"

His arm flicks around her own so quickly she is barely aware of it before he uses his weight to push her to the ground. He leans in close so that she can feel his breath, and she has to blink several times as he blurs out of focus.

His hair, jet black and slick, erupts into a fiery red - the curls coming to rest on her face. Slowly, his limbs and body come into focus, and she realizes with horror that she is staring back at herself.

"Oh God..."

She watches as a slow smile breaks out over her own face. "Not God. But you're starting to get the right idea..."

* * *

Tony leads the second wave of agents who enter the prisoner's unit, having retrieved the Iron Man suit. He stares at the devastation, the unconscious and bleeding form of Agent Barton, and the Romanova twins grappling in the cell.

"You have got to be kidding me..." he mutters, but he's tempted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "Alright, let's just save ourselves a lot of trouble here... which one of you is the real undercover spy? Oh wait, you both kinda are at the moment aren't you... Ok, which one of you is secretly an evil alien viking?"

They both ignore him, continuing to fight... which is actually exactly what Natasha Romanova would do in that situation, so Tony is forced to shrug and engage Iron Man's helmet. "Jarvis... scan this mess. Tell me... something..."

"Sir, it looks like Agent Barton has sustained some head trauma, but his vitals are holding steady."

"Thanks Jarvis. Tell me something _I don't know already_."

"Scans reveal that both Agent Romanovas are identical in physicality and biological rhythms. I'm afraid more data is needed."

"Great."

There is a resounding crack as a gun is smashed upside someone's head, and then only one Agent Romanova remains.

"It's me, Mr. Stark."

Tony walks over to the control panel, and for the third time that day, opens Loki's cage. He holds up both hands, charged and ready to fire. "Right. Not gonna happen. Step away from each other please. Not that this little wrestling match isn't _extremely_ entertaining." The agents surrounding him raise their guns at the prisoners. "A simple I told you so seems like a bit of an understatement, but _seriously_... you thought the cage was overkill."

This last comment is directed at Captain America, who watches wordlessly from the door, decked out in his spangly garb. "All I said was that we had to either offer him a second chance or not. The cage spoke to the latter."

"Well what now, old man?" He says this to irritate Steve, but only because there is something decidedly irritating in his perfect-soldier-do-gooder schtick.

Captain America walks past Iron Man and faces the Romanova that still stands. "Your name, solider?"

"Agent Natasha Romanova." She cocks her head slightly. "And I am not a solider."

Tony watches as the interrogation materializes out of nowhere, with Captain America throwing out questions and watching her face closely as she answers. **_Shoulda kept him on_ ice...**

"Yeah... she's a Master Spy... her whole _thing_ is that she can out interrogate you _while_ you think you're interrogating her."

"Or," says Captain America, throwing a look over his shoulder at Tony, "He's the God of Lies and we need to know what the truth is. I think we need to get Thor."

There is an unreadable glint in Natasha's eye as she locks eyes with Tony and takes a step forward. Her face reads horror, as if something has suddenly dawned on her. "Unless..."

Both Iron Man and Captain America get into a battle stance, their weapons trained on Natasha.

"Unless," she continues slowly, putting her hands up in surrender, "Loki wasn't even in his cell when I found him. I thought he was using a Barton projection to wind me up... but he could have just as easily left a projection of himself. It would make more sense than him escaping only to lock himself back up in his cell."

Captain America frowns. "Loki would try to sow discord amongst us, and I can't see the point of that suggestion unless you're doing just that."

"How about years of training and experience that ensures I never underestimate an enemy?"

"Are you really suggesting that he could be anywhere in the building?"

"... or any_one_ for that matter. We really need to find a way to tell when he's role playing and when he's leaving a trail of holograms. This is getting ridiculous." Tony doesn't mean to, but he stares at Captain America uncertainly. "You're not Loki, are you?"

Steve looks like he's just been slapped in the face. "No. Are _you_?"

"Nope. Not that you'd know."

Tony throws up his hands as Natasha gets into a defensive stance and begins to back away from Captain America.

"Oh no. You stay where you are." He aims the palm of his hand at her.

"We need to notify Fury. This is getting out of control, fast."

"How do we know Fury's not..." Tony flips up his helmet and grins at Steve.

"That's enough, Stark!"

* * *

Loki hasn't had this much fun in years, but throwing a wrench into the Avengers machine is a lowly endeavour. He has much, much bigger plans, and far too much to do to stand around and marvel at his handiwork.

He watches as the entire team assembles on the little battlefield that was once his cage. One of them has the answer he needs. They take their places on the board like little chess pieces. Now all he has to do is set things in motion...

Thankfully, in all the little, physical ways that count - he already happens to be one of them...

* * *

**A/N:**

**Longer chapter coming up, because I had to split up the "escape" and the... well, what comes next :P I was going to just have Loki use his magic to escape, but let's face it. He doesn't *just* do anything for practicality. If he has the chance to muck things up a bit for fun, I would think he'd take it.  
**

**Who do you think he is/should be impersonating?  
**

**Reviews/Comments/Thoughts always appreciated! I try to respond to each when I can :)  
**


	12. Chapter 12: The Traitor's Game

They sit facing the empty hospital bed.

Darcy feels Jane's arms wrap around her shoulder, but even that does not stop her from shaking as she cries. Grief comes in waves, followed by confusion. Over everything hangs a sense of betrayal that she can't even acknowledge for fear of breaking completely.

"I don't... I can't... What, he couldn't stop being a bastard even when he was someone I really liked?"

Jane laughs quietly through her own tears and gives Darcy's shoulders a squeeze.

Darcy swipes at her tears. "Ok, so there's no point crying 'cuz it's not like he actually died or anything, right? I mean he wasn't even a real person to begin with..." She sniffles because she knows this is besides the point. "Luke was Loki all along... does that mean we were seeing a side of Loki, you know, one that isn't so bad? Or was he was using us for something? Does he even know normal people don't pull shit like this?"

Though she is joking, her tone is hurt and confused. Behind her Thor clears his throat, and shifts uncomfortably.

"I should check on my brother. If he was using the projection as a decoy, I fear what its disappearance means. I know Loki all too well, and this just feels like one of his schemes."

"Go," says Jane in a quiet voice, "but Thor - I have this terrible feeling that Loki's in trouble..."

Thor nods and disappears into the hallway, but not before Darcy catches the grimace that spreads over his face. _**Was that fear OF or FOR his brother?**_

Jane watches him leave with seemingly misplaced interest, before she grips Darcy's arm. "Do you still have all that research on Norse gods?"

"On my computer somwhere, why?"

"Your theory was that rather than creating their gods, the Norse mistook visiting Asgardians for these mythical beings, right? Well, I don't know how much of the stories themselves were influenced by Thor's family, but I think that they could hold a clue to what's going on right now."

Darcy stares at her. "Oh? And what is going on? Because everytime I feel like I have a grip on things, another god falls from the sky, or you get attacked by a cloud, or the one SHIELD agent I actually liked turns out to be a shapeshifting loon. No, sorry scratch that - a projected copy of a shapeshifting loon. And since when are we on team Loki, anyways?"

She's surprised by Jane's firmness on the matter. "Since he matters and he needs our help."

Darcy is not convinced, but she trusts Jane. Or rather, she knows Jane will need her if this all falls apart. "Okay fine. But I hope you know what you're doing."

"Not even a little..." admits Jane. But this time when she smirks, Darcy does as well.

* * *

Jane lowers the screen of her laptop and rubs her eyes. "You know, whenever I'm having a hard time with funding or my research, I have these brief moments where I miss actually being in school. And then there are days when we do something like this, and I take it all back."

Darcy laughs, but frowns when she gets distracted and realizes there is no more coffee. _**I hate this stupid research facility**_. "Ok, so what do we have?"

"Apparently the Norse pantheon was governed by an overarching prophecy about each of them. They knew how the world would end, and how each of them was going to die as part of it."

"Right, but they were pretty much abivalent to the entire thing until Loki crossed the line and killed their brother Baldur. Remind me why we're helping him again?"

Jane ignores her. "So the world didn't end at a specific time, it ended because a series of things happened. They even imprisoned Loki and his children to keep Ragnarok from happening, but all that did was ensure the prophecy came true the moment they were freed."

"Jane! We knew all this. I've even admitted I felt sorry for him - he gets a seriously raw deal, but this can't be what we're looking for." When Jane doesn't answer, she slams the laptop lid shut. "What are we looking for?"

"He's either doing something incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. Both maybe, I don't know. That cloud thing... I can't explain it, but it was powerful and terrifying. And both times it took me - he was there..."

Darcy feels a chill run up her spine and she rubs her arms as if this will help. "What do you mean it took you? Are you sure it isn't him that's doing this?"

Jane nods. "It was horrible Darcy. It seemed like a place built entirely to tear down and destroy him. Except something kept warning me to stay away because he was the destroyer of worlds, and then telling him that he was destined to be a saviour. I feel like something big's going to happen - that he's being pushed towards some destiny that he should never have to face. And I know I'm not a god or a superhero or anything like that... but Darc, I want more than anything to save him."

Darcy thinks about the impossibility of them taking on some alien, supernatural creature of destiny... and then the impossibility that this exists in the context of a serious conversation. She puts her head in her hands and groans.

"I get it, Jane, I do. But we're so far out of our depth here. Have you talked to Thor about any of this?"

"I can't. It said something about him too... that I had nearly derailed Thor's destiny to die fighting the snake Jormungandr."

"That was one of Loki's kids in the stories. But he doesn't have kids as far as we know... and they've never mentioned anything about having a brother named Baldur either. This isn't a script for us to follow. How're we supposed to make sense of any of this?"

Jane is silent for a moment as she thinks, but then she jumps to her feet. "That's not the point, Darcy! Whatever it was made it a point that I couldn't interfere. That my being involved was changing things. That means I can change things!"

_**Why does this feel like she's not telling me the whole**_** story?**

"How?"

There's a soft thud as Jane plunks back down in her seat. "I have... no idea... but I think I know where I can find out..." She looks towards the cot set up in back.

"No, no way. I don't think Thor or Loki would approve of you going back there. More importantly, I don't approve of it."

"Well, you can't force me to stay awake forever. And I need you to talk to either Thor or Loki about their family, so we know where we stand."

"Fine. I'm not sure why either of them will talk to me, but I'll do it - on the condition that you come with me. I may not be able to keep you awake forever, but I can't leave you here in case something happens."

Jane surprises them both by hugging her. "Thank you Darc. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And don't underestimate how important you are. You took care of Luke for all those months, even when you didn't have to. I know Loki can be..."

"... an insensitive little prick?"

"...but give him a chance. For me, ok?"

* * *

Convincing SHIELD to approve their little field trip is a mission all in itself. They only make any headway when they convince Erik to pull some strings at his end.

"Is this about Thor? I like the boy, but I don't want you involved in everything he does. It's too dangerous," was his only condition. Jane had to swat at Darcy to keep her from giggling in the background at the blatant lie.

When they arrive, it is clear that something is wrong. As they are ushered onto the bridge, there is utter silence despite the noisy cacophany of alarms going off.

"What's happening?" Jane asks the first officer she sees.

Maria Hill turns around, her expression grim and distracted. "We're having a little problem... You really shouldn't be here Dr. Foster." She turns suddenly, her hand to her ear as she listens. "Yes, sir. Dr. Foster just arrived... are you sure that's a good idea? Yes, sir. I'll have her escorted in. Looks like Director Fury thinks you can help us out..." She directs the last sentence at Jane.

Two armed SHIELD agents escort Jane and Darcy down the labyrinth of passages, stopping only when they hear a loud explosion and the ground shakes beneath their feet.

Fury stands outside the door. His gun is drawn, but his arms are slack. "Ah, Dr. Foster. You just have a nose for trouble, don't you? Come with me."

He enters the room, which looks like a tornado has hit it. The Avengers are scattered across the room, shouting and fighting. The room was designed to hold a powerful prisoner, so minus the people and equipment, it seems to be holding up just fine.

The same cannot be said for The Avengers themselves.

They look exhausted, and both Captain America and Agent Romanova sport gashes and bruises.

"Everybody take a time out, RIGHT NOW!" yells Fury into the fray.

It is Thor that obeys him first, coming to land beside Jane and Darcy with Mjolnir held threateningly in his hand. Unwilling to place a civilian in danger, the others soon come to an uneasy rest as well.

"Wow, you guys really know how to throw a party..." says Darcy under her breath, but her heart is racing and she is secretly glad that Thor is standing in between them and the destruction.

"Now," says Fury, "We are not going to tear each other apart over the mere suggestion that Loki is screwing with us. We are going to have a rational conversation. And if one of you is Loki, then you will kindly restrain yourself in deference to Dr. Foster. Any questions?"

The room is silent.

"I have a question. How long have you guys been at this?"

"Hours," says Thor grimly, "And that too after even more hours of arguing and searching. It seems I was right about my brother... he is manipulating us."

"Are there TWO of her?" Darcy points incredulously at Agent Romanova. "One's got to be Loki, right?"

Captain America sighs with frustration. "You would think, right? But Loki doesn't just shapeshift. He's been leaving clones all over the place. Apparently some random agent in New Mexico was a clone of his. It seems like he's just muddying all the water so we can't see straight."

Tony Stark flips open his helmet and, looking far worse for wear, glares at Agent Romanova. "At this point I'm about ready to just shoot her and find out."

"Any thoughts, Dr. Foster?"

Darcy cringes a little because the implication is enough to rekindle the very awkward tension between Jane and Thor - Fury asking Jane instead of the brother that has known Loki his whole life... For all his stature and power, Thor's face is always an open book, and when she looks into it this time, Darcy's heart goes out to him.

"Loki's illusions have always fooled me. I'm afraid I won't be any more help than Thor..."

Another awkward silence.

"Ok, that's it. I need a drink." Tony throws his hands up and makes his way towards the door.

"I don't think that's such a bad idea. We all need a bit of a breather. Agent Coulson, have Agent Barton and... Agent Romanova transferred to the medical unit. The rest of you, take a breather, but no one goes off by themselves. Until such time as we flush out our shifty little friend, you are under house arrest. You must be escorted at all times, and will be restricted from viewing sensitive information."

Tony turns on his heel midstep to throw a fit. "You don't even know if one of us is a fake! This is completely unacceptable!"

"Relax, we'll get this sorted out and then you can go back to swanning about like usual." Steve's comment is uncharacteristically rude, but he looks exhausted and walks out without another word.

"I got this," says Coulson and disappears after him.

They all leave, one by one, though nothing has been resolved, and everyone is clearly more on edge than ever before.

Darcy waits until she catches Jane's eye and jerks her head towards Thor. "Ask him!" she mouths. But Thor does not look up at Jane, and Darcy realizes that she's going to have to do this herself.

"Come on, big guy. We gotta talk." Thor allows her to steer him towards the door. As she passes Jane she leans over and hisses. "Don't you DARE fall asleep. And watch out for Loki."

* * *

Loki waits until the Avengers have dissipated. His instinct is to find Jane - to make sure she is safe, to reassure himself after the look that passed between her and Thor - but he knows Jane can take care of herself.

Instead, he waits several hours, doing completely mundane things in order to deflect suspicion and only then, brazenly walks into the research unit where Dr. Banner is working.

"Bruce," he nods.

With a swipe of his hand, Bruce sends his research on the Tesseract flying off screen. He looks up at him, acknowledging his presence, before pulling up something a little less innocuous. "I heard I missed out on a party?"

"Yeah, we really tore the place up. Listen... I know Fury's grounded us all, but I thought about what you mentioned earlier... about SHIELD not being totally honest with us... I'm not sure what game they're playing trying to pit us all against each other, but I think we might be able to help each other out."

Bruce looks at him sideways. "You were adamantly against it before. What changed your mind?"

"I guess you could say I'm just tired of being a pawn in someone else's game. So how about it, Doc? Ready to take back a little control?"

Bruce smiles, wryly, and pulls up a program on the monitor. He turns the screen to Loki, who immediately begins accessing SHIELD's network. Despite keeping a low profile by using his one "party trick" as Agent Romanova called it, he had managed to obtain enough information to know where to look and how to get it. Just in time too... he was getting mind-numbingly bored trying to blend in, and was running on fumes as he tried to avoid sleep. Loki hacks through the system, and pulls up Banner's classified file. He leafs through it until he finds what he's looking for. Then he turns the monitor back to him.

"That should get you started."

"You know, Mr. Stark, you're usually my least favourite person in the world... but once in a while..."

Loki allows his face to grow serious - but not too serious. Tony Stark is never too serious. "Now, there's more where that came from - think we can get started on your end of the deal?"

"Absolutely. Actually, I'm not really getting anywhere, so having a fresh pair of eyes couldn't help. I thought your ideas on how to track Loki's energy signature were inspired - if we can make it work..."

Loki grins. "Oh trust me, Dr. Banner, it'll work. There's no one better equipped to find that little bastard and make sure he gets what he deserves..."

When the phone in his pocket rings, he ignores the picture and name of Pepper Potts that flashes up, for the umpteenth time, and tosses it onto the workstation. Using Tony's phone and computer access, Loki was able to either tie up or temporarily cut off the billionaire's communications. Thankfully, by shifting into Tony's form, even Jarvis was unable to detect the differences in biochemistry and voice patterns. Wherever Tony Stark really was... and Loki wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out... he was going to have a hell of a time making it back.

When the phone rings _again_, he finally picks it up. "Hello... yeah, sorry about that, we're having a bit of a security crisis up here. Sorry, what? Of course I can stop by first thing tomorrow... I look forward to seeing how the new equipment turned out..."

He would deal with Tony Stark when the time came. At best he was a perfectly boring human in a fancy suit... now, at worst, he was a perfectly boring human who would have to face a veritable god in that same fancy suit.

_**Too bad, Tony. You shouldn't leave your toys lying around...**_

* * *

_****_**A/N:**

**So yeah, I was tempted to make him impersonate someone lowly and random, but he already technically did that with Luke - plus I didn't want Loki to be running around *just* screwing with people. I mean that's always gotta be a perk, right? But he's got a bigger scheme to get under way, and has to build on one trick after another to get there.  
**

**I started this story thinking it'd be completely Loki focused, but I'm actually really enjoying Jane's role too. I like the idea of them watching each other evolve and grow in their relationship towards each other.  
**

**More soon!  
**

**Reviews/Comments/Thoughts always welcome - and I try to respond to each one, so ask away! ;)  
**


	13. Chapter 13: Thor & The Brother He Lost

"How're you holding up?"

Thor knows she means to be kind, but his mind is full of angry white noise, and so he just leans against the counter and holds his head in his hands. "I'm tired, Darcy. I'm just so very tired."

When he feels her hand on his arm, he accepts the mug of coffee, and tries to offer a grateful smile. Darcy hops up on the counter facing him, with her own mug.

"It must be strange getting caught up in our problems. I mean, considering that we're ants in the grand scheme of things, us humans really know how to let things get out of control..."

Thor smiles and shakes his head. "Midgard is a young realm. It weighs heavily on my shoulders that we have brought the trials of Asgard to this place. I look around and see such promise and joy... and even now it begins to succumb to the same darkness that has taken my brother..." He trails off into silence, and his eyes stare blankly at the wall, seeing memories long forgotten.

Darcy drops her eyes and appears to be absorbed with her coffee. "Jane told me about the Nightmare Realm. I'm really worried about her..."

"As am I. But I fear I may be losing her. What right have I to force my protection on her, when it would only burden her further?" This notion grieves him greatly, and he has not been able to push it from his thoughts ever since that night on the mountaintop. He cares for her deeply, but he knows in his heart that he could not summon the necessary anger to fight against her happiness - if someone else truly made her happy. Once he would have happily destroyed any obstacles to her affection. But now...

The fact that Loki was the one dividing them only makes it that much harder.

He looks up at Darcy and sets his mouth in a firm line. "She means the world to me, and I would do anything, _anything at all_, to see her safe and happy." His voice cracks, and he feels the enormous sense of exhaustion creep into his face. "What would she have me do?"

"Well, for one," says Darcy, hopping off the counter to get her pack, "She'd have you take a deep breath and buck up. I know you two aren't where you'd like to be right now, but don't give up on each other. Actually, there's something you probably can help us out with."

Thor raises an eyebrow as she hands him a brightly illustrated book. "These are Selvig's children's stories."

"Yeah, he may never be able to borrow another library book in the state of New Mexico again... do you know anything about the stories told about your family on earth?"

Thor flips through the book and smiles. They remind him of Frigga's bedtime stories when they were children - stories about the great adventures they would have when they grew up. Many of which would eventually come to pass. "I know they see us as gods. Midgard was a place for us to adventure when we were very young, and then drink and dance when we grew a bit older. We far outmatched any mortal in this realm, so we found other places to wage glorious battles, and by and by stopped visiting. Which was apparently our loss. Why do you ask?"

Darcy sighs and flips to the page with the God of Mischief.

"Jane would like to know more of Loki?"

"Jane has a theory about the cloud that took her - that it is really after Loki, and something has entered his mind to try and manipulate him. Do you know if he has any connection to it?"

His hand inadvertently closes into a fist, and his entire body tenses. Loki had been too young the last time Asgard confronted this threat, but nothing had come of it and there had been no battle.

_**Unless... no, Odin would have never allowed it... **_

He remembers Loki's frail body wracked with sickness, and the wild fear and night terrors that consumed him for weeks afterwards. His recovery had been painful and unpleasant and, as was his way, he managed to push away everyone that cared for him. Though he never knew what happened between them, Sif and Loki, once stalwart allies against the sheer brawn of himself and The Warriors Three, fell out and never recovered their friendship.

Thor had always secretly believed that was the moment they all lost him. The boy who laughed and delighted in cleverness disappeared, and his brother became withdrawn and looked at the world with suspicion. He had never made the connection with the threat even Odin feared.

"I suppose he did. Poor Loki. We assembled all the military might of Asgard, and he faced it alone when it came down to it... I just never realized..."

"Your world is so much bigger than ours. The most I've ever worried about was how much caffeine was too much caffeine during finals. It's almost unfair - I was fine knowing that adventures only happened to people in books and movies. But that's your entire life, isn't it? Battles and monsters and royal schemes."

Thor smiles indulgently at her. He likes Darcy's company because what should scare her makes her more defiant, and she laughs when she should remain serious. "Well, I am not sure about royal schemes..." he thinks about Loki and redirects that line of thought, "But my life has certainly been charmed, and you are absolutely right in that I have no right to be maudlin."

"Maudlin... oh my God, they'd lock you up in New York... well, the cape would probably do it before the Shakespeare would, but still." She shakes her head with a small laugh and tries to be serious again. "Listen, Jane thinks that some of these old children's stories might hold the key to what's going on with Loki. I know they're just stories, but it's actually the scary amount they got _right_ that worries us. Think we could work through this together?"

"Of course, though if it is Asgardian history you are after, I am afraid you might have the wrong brother." But he smiles warmly, and joins her at the table. "What would you like to know?"

Darcy flips open a notebook and pulls out a pen. "Well, none of the versions line up completely, but there are always a few common threads. I guess I'm just looking for those elements in the real deal."

Thor nods, though he really has no idea what she could mean. _**Stories are about real life, not the other way around.**_ He thinks of his mother's stories and how much of an impact they had on his thirst for adventure and love of glory. He nods again, this time more certain.

"Alright... so we've met you and Loki (sort of), but who else is in your family?"

"Odin, the All-Father rules Asgard as its king. He is a great warrior and a true ruler. I am honoured to be counted as a warrior of his house. And then there is my mother, Frigga. Our people say she is prescient, but I have never heard her prophesy. She is a good wife, and a good mother, and a true warrior woman."

He notices Darcy try to hide her smile, and presses her on it.

"No, I think it's adorable how you talk about your mother. I just didn't really think of you as a mama's boy."

Once she has sufficiently explained the term, he shakes his head and laughs himself. "I love my mother, but by what you mean she was Loki's confidante, not mine. She loved us equally, and never questioned his motives. I suppose, in return he took great pains to earn her pride in him. I was always a son of Odin. I am a warrior worthy of Mjolnir, and much like my father in more ways than that. Our family was a happy one... or so I always believed."

"What's the line - 'Happy families are_ all _alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'? It's a law of the universe. You're not allowed to have super strength, good looks, _and_ a well adjusted childhood. Karma wouldn't stand for it!" They smile. "Ah, it's just as well. Your family trees are just far too confusing in the myths. Though that does throw the whole theory about Baldur out the window..."

Thor tenses again, and accidentally frightens Darcy as he brings the mug clattering down on the table. A shadow passes over his face. "Where did you hear that name?"

"He's in the stories. Wait, shit! Is there actually a Baldur? Because his death is where everything starts going wrong in the stories... please tell me your Baldur is alive."

"I haven't thought about him in so many years. I barely remember him, mind you, I was very, very small, but... Baldur and Loki were born around the same time. I remember being propped up in my mother's bed so that I could hold him as a baby. He was so beautiful, but he was very quiet and slept a great deal. I feel terrible having even thought it, but at the time I thought he was much less fun than Loki. Now, as a baby, Loki used to watch everything I did with such interest. He would laugh at absolutely anything I did, and would cry in sympathy when father scolded me. And I just knew that he would play with me if he could."

"What happened to him. To Baldur?"

Thor tries to dredge up the memory of his real little brother, who paled so greatly in comparison to Loki, that he came up with nothing but his cherubic little face. "He died as an infant. I was too young to really understand what was going on, but I think his death must have been very sudden, because my parents took it very hard, and never really spoke of him after that. My mother put all her love into myself and Loki, but father... I don't think he ever got over the idea that Loki was an imposter in Baldur's place. I suppose all the more, now that we know about Loki's true parentage."

Darcy lowers her head and lets the pen roll, unchecked, in her hand. "I'm so sorry."

"Like I said, it was a long time ago, and I was too young to remember. But in answer to your question, I'm afraid he is most certainly dead. Does this mean something?"

"I don't know. It might. It was never Baldur's death itself that was the problem, but rather that he was so greatly loved and adored by all, that Loki's involvement in his death turned nearly all of Asgard against him."

He breathes a little sigh of relief. "Well, they were both infants, so he could have hardly done anything so lethal. And I don't care what any stories imply about my brother, but he was not born evil. I don't believe he's evil, even now. He had nothing to do with Baldur's death. And it would be a cruel twist of fate indeed to try and pin that on him."

"Agreed," Darcy nods sadly, "But if there's anything I've gotten from myths, it's that Fate gets off on technicalities like that. Let's just hope I'm wrong."

Thor stares at the table, grimly. "What else do you need to know?"

"Does Loki have children? What about pets? No wolves or snakes or anything, right? Do your people have any prophecies, like about the end of the world or anything like that?"

He gives her a strange, searching look. "No, Loki has no children. We have always had dogs among the barracks, but none that belonged to Loki. And we have myths of our own, but nothing anyone really believes in." He pauses, uncertainly, and his eyes search the room as he thinks. "My mother... she has a series of dream journals dating back years... when we were very small she used to read to us from them, but as we got older she locked them away and refused to speak of them. I haven't seen her write in one for years..."

She frowns and throws up her hands so suddenly that the pen goes flying. "Goddam. This is worse than academic journal pay walls. I've got a whole universe and a goddess between me and the research I need this time. Sorry, all due respect to your mom."

He dismisses her comments with a wave of his hand. When he finally speaks again, his voice is quiet and low. "What happens at the end of the stories, Darcy? What does Loki do?"

"He brings about Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. It's basically the end of the world..."

Thor lets out a choked, mirthless laugh that doesn't even attempt to show through his eyes. "Oh, is that all?"

* * *

Loki yawns as he works away in Banner's lab. He's found what he needs, but _more_ information has never been a bad thing, and he has nowhere to be at the moment.

_**I could try to fin****d Jane.**_ His heart loves this idea, but his head instantly vetoes it. He promised her, he would never deceive her with someone else's face.

_She would never forgive you. Forget about her._

He gets up and stretches, allowing his long, lean muscles to throw off the strain of sitting still for so long. _**I could just see how she's doing. I won't even let her se****e**** me.**_

_Forget about her__.  
_

The hallways are mostly empty this time of night, the day personnel having retired to their bunks. He greets the occasional guard or SHIELD agent with a curt nod, before finding Jane's quarters. She sits, cross-legged on her bunk, engrossed in whatever she's working on her laptop.

_You shouldn't be here._

_**You're right. **** I**_**_ shouldn't._ ** It is only at this point that Loki realizes, with abject terror, that _he can actually hear_ his inner dialogue.

He turns around to come face to face with a tall, lean man. He is remarkably handsome, and has tousled blond hair that falls into his eyes, which are themselves a deep, piercing blue that Loki can only describe as - familiar.

**_He looks just like Thor..._**

"Who are you?" asks Loki, feeling the fear form into a lump in his throat. He tries to block the door to Jane's room with his body, running scenarios in his head of how to save her or distract the monster long enough for her to escape.

The man smiles, cold and cruel, and launches himself suddenly at Loki. His arms are deceptively strong, and Loki feels his body impact against the wall as a shock of agony. A small cry escapes his lips.

When he speaks, the man's voice is melodious and sweet, and if Loki believed in angels, this is what they would look like. But when he speaks, the familiar blue of his eyes fades away, and a blinding white light pours out of it, causing Loki to shield his eyes.

_ You thought you could escape us by staying awake? I get that. You can't have a nightmare if you don't sleep. Trouble is, the drowsier you get out here, the stronger our connection is to this realm. It allows me to show up, and do this-! _Loki bites back the noise in his throat as the man grabs a fist full of his hair and slams his head into the wall.

"Who are you?" repeats Loki. His voice is a plea, a prayer to something he does not believe can help him. "Leave her alone. I'm not afraid of you..."

The man laughs, and places his hand on Loki's face, forcing him to meet his eyes. _You always were a talented liar... brother..._

"Sir?" A guard's voice, his eyes wide at the blood dripping from the back of Loki's head. "Are you alright Mr. Stark?"

Loki looks warily down the hall in both directions. There is no sign of the man.

"Yeah, fine. I'm just tired..."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I realized I hadn't really given Thor a POV piece, and I think that since we're dealing with the fate of the Asgardians there is no one better to unlock what this could really mean for them. Even Loki's view of Asgard is a little biased/twisted because of his baggage, but Thor was in line to rule it, and I believe genuinely loves and cares for it as a ruler would. I think he'll have to take a major hand in what's about to go down.  
**

**Some of you who review/PM me have been sharing some really, really insightful comments on where you think this is going and what you think of the place Loki, Thor, and the entire Norse pantheon play as a characters in all versions of their stories. I absolutely LOVE hearing these, so keep sending them!  
**

**I know my introduction of Baldur is not myth or comic canon, but it's tied into the story, and I think is a neat parallel to the relationship Thor and Loki have. Since he's not alive, it's a bit ambiguous whether it's his spirit showing up on its own merit, being manipulated by the Hand of Fate, or whether he's just Fate's own creation to screw with Loki. Remember, Thor remembers Baldur because he was slightly older than the two of them. Loki was a baby along with Baldur, so he'll have to weigh the truth of the matter based on knowing nothing about who this man is.  
**

**Reviews/Comments/Thoughts always appreciated and I try to respond to each one!  
**


	14. Chapter 14: The Beginning of the End

A dull, distant throbbing has taken up residence in his head, and his eyes are so heavy that if he allows himself to blink too slowly his head begins to nod. He ignores the phone when it buzzes, because the still, small voice in his head that cautions - Stark's woman will raise an alarm if you don't respond - is too far away for him to take notice.

_You can fight us and go about your destiny, or you could simply succumb - give in to the sweet slumber that you so crave, and allow us to succeed where you have failed. We don't need you to suffer, godling. We just need you to submit. Are you certain you aren't suffering for nothing?_

"I'm fine," he grits out through clenched teeth.

Loki is startled back to his senses when Maria Hill responds from across the room. "Good, because Banner says his new toy for locating Loki is just about up and running. You're wanted in the War Room."

He takes a deep breath and the mug of coffee she offers him, with a concerned look, before the pair leave.

It is in the hallway, walking towards the War Room, that he hears the sound of footsteps following him. Loki knows who follows him. He is starting to get used to the man's uneven presence. Sometimes he is just a voice in his head, while at others he is tangible enough to pick up objects and physically attack. The man works like a thorn in his side, wheedling into a pressure point at unexpected moments.

Every reminder of his presence throws off Loki's game, and the idea of a parasite living in his mind, feeding off his thoughts, makes it that much harder for Loki to focus. He thinks of Asgard. Of the Midgardians. Of his brother. Of Jane.

_**How am I supposed to choose? And what if I simply choose not to choose?**_

_Then you will lose everything.  
_

"Here we are, Mr. Stark."

Loki enters the room, colloquially dubbed the War Room, and summons the energy to play the part of the irreverent billionaire once more. He is more than a little irked by the soft laughter that permeates the air around him.

Steve Rogers gets up from his chair, hand outstretched, looking vaguely apologetic. "Listen Tony, about yesterday... things got out of hand. I think we can be a great team but..."

"Drop dead, Steve."

"Right. Good to know."

Loki allows himself to collapse in Steve's chair. He puts his feet up on the conference table on top of his briefing notes and smiles at the Captain.

"Right," says Steve again, but this time it appears a nerve has been struck. He clenches his jaw and his fists, and begins to stride over to where Loki sits. "I've had just about..."

"Enough! Guys, relax. Things'll go back to normal soon enough." Bruce drops a large case, which he struggles to keep his arms wrapped around, onto the table. Loki tries not to look annoyed as the man wanders over to take a look over Bruce's shoulder.

_**Who are you**** anyways?**_ It occurs to him that this is the first time he has spoken directly to the man, instead of merely waiting for him to respond to a thought.

The man looks up, surprised, but allows himself to be distracted when Banner pulls out a laptop and a device that looks like a a stationary scanning gun.

_Of course, you wouldn't remember me. Did you really fancy yourself the only one who'd ever lived in the shadow of a brother?_

_**You keep saying that. As far as I know, I have ****no brothers. **_He thinks of Thor and relents slightly._  
_

_Ah yes, the stolen child. How could we forget? In that case your crime is all the greater, Laufeyson, for you had no right at all to take my place - in my father's hall, in my mother's arms._He smiles and comes over to the seat beside Loki. _A true son of Odin would never languish in the wake of a buffoon such as the Thunder God._

Loki tries to ignore him as more and more Avengers filter in, but he needn't have worried, because a very frazzled Thor bursts through the door with Jane and Darcy hot on his heels. He does a double take, and Loki worries that his weariness has lowered the quality of his copy.

"Who, pray tell, is that?" Thor seems unreasonably tense, his battle readiness at odds with the calm room around him. He uses Mjolnir to point at the man.

"Thor, there's no one there..." says Steve, though he gets up from his chair as a precaution.

It is then that Loki notices Jane staring wide-eyed as well.

"My name is..." The man's voice, when spoken, does not have quite the same ethereal quality to it, but it is nonetheless pleasing to the ear.

"You are not welcome here, fiend." Thor lightly flips his grip to hold Mjolnir in a throwing position. "What have you done with my brother?"

"Your brother?" He grins at Loki. "Mr. Stark was just telling me that Loki is no brother of yours. In fact, you might be interested to know that your brother is sitting right here in this room."

"Whose voice is that?"

"Does anyone know what's happening?"

"Back away from them. Stark! I said, back away!"

There are too many alarm bells going off in Loki's head for this particular one to register._** How can they see you? How can they hear you?  
**_

The man continues to verbally flick away Thor's anger, but he responds to Loki mentally, in a confusing bit of multi-tasking. _I told you. The more you try to fight this, the stronger I get. And both the Thunder God and the woman have been to my realm. They have already met me._

"I will not ask you again, stranger. Where is my brother?"

The man ignores Thor and fixes Loki with a hard stare that is equal parts vile amusement and an unmitigated desire to inflict destruction. _Would you like to know what it's like? I've held her in my arms and watched as she cried at the prospect of my death. I've tasted her kiss, and now that she's tied to my realm..._

Loki cannot contain his rage at this implication, but it is Mjolnir that pummels across the room and slams hard into the back wall. There is a large, wispy hole in the man's torso, which quickly knits back together. He laughs.

"Now, now, Odinson. Let us not fight. I did not know you fancied the woman yourself. You have your part to play in all this, but I am only here on account of Laufeyson. He is one of ours. He was always one of ours. We are here to claim him."

"What do you mean?" asks Thor. His voice wavers in conviction just enough that Loki flicks his gaze away from the man and at his brother.

Jane puts her hand on Thor's shoulder. Like the rest of them, she is entranced by the man, but for however long she is able to wrest back her gaze she searches the room. _**Does she search for me?**_ "That's a lie. Loki is not yours. You wouldn't be here trying to cause trouble if he was already yours. I think he's fighting you." Her eyes continue to search the room, and for once - whether because he subconsciously lets his guard down, or the connection between them is that strong - she stops when she reaches him. "He belongs with us."

Loki takes a step towards her, when many things happen at once.

The first is that Thor begins to call Mjolnir back to him.

The second is that the man's face collapses into unadulterated fury and, in the blink of an eye, he moves towards and _through_ Thor. This is the only way to describe it, as his smoke-like form crashes up against Thor's body like water upon rocks and dissipates completely, before emerging from the other side. The life in Thor's eyes goes out like a snuffed candle, and he collapses to the floor with a thud.

The third is that the door to the room slides open and Director Fury and Tony Stark - the real Tony Stark in a different Iron Man suit - enter the room.

Jane and Darcy are at his side in an instant, and Loki leads the rest of the Avengers a moment later.

"What have you done to him!" he demands, his hands clenching and unclenching in rage. Loki barely notices the commotion going on by the door as the Avengers speak in hushed, but frantic whispers. Everyone is armed by this point.

The man blinks, feigning innocence. "Well let's not overreact! He's not dead. He is however... what's that human platitude? In a better place?" He smiles and closes his eyes, pretending to sleep.

"Bring. Him. Back."

"I will not!" The man's face remains as beautiful as ever, but there is something deeply terrifying about the ugliness of his anger, which perverts his features. "Not until you hand over my prize and agree to come with me."

The world is moving too quickly. Loki can see Tony gesturing angrily in his direction, and the mask on the iron suit clamp shut in the face of all those arguing with him. He feels Jane's fingers thread their way among his own, as she pulls his face towards her, even as his eyes remain fixed.

"Don't do this. Please. I know what he's trying to make you do."

He finally allows himself to look at her, and his heart breaks at the sight of the tears in her eyes. "That's exactly the problem, Jane. You shouldn't have to know any of this. Thor shouldn't be trapped in that horrid place. He - all of you are in this mess because of me. I have to make things right..."

"The boy finally speaks sense. Listen to him, sweetheart."

She grips his arm tighter. Her eyes are full of fire and determination. "No. We'll find another way."

"There is no other way. He has always, and will always belong to us."

Jane places both hands on either side of Loki's face. She is so close that not even the looming presence of the man enters his awareness in that moment. "Promise me you won't do this. Promise you won't leave me..."

Loki closes his eyes because he cannot bear to see the pleading, broken look on her face any longer. But he cannot close out the sound of her voice in his ears, and so, with a deep sigh he says "I pr-"

There is a sharp pain in the side of his neck, and when his hand travels up to touch it, he feels a barb of some sort. He turns around the room unsteadily, and sees Iron Man's fist pointed towards him, a casing flying out of a blaster on his arm.

"No! We need to keep him conscious!"

Jane is yelling at Iron Man, but stops as she tries to catch his body before it hits the floor. She does not succeed, and pain shoots through his head and back. The room begins to seem very far away, and when he looks at his hands, they are once more his own. Everyone is rushing towards him, but they have never seemed farther away. He feels Jane's hands on his face trying to get him to focus. He hears the word "tranquilizer" and Tony's claim that he "did what needed to be done". Jane says something he cannot follow, but Tony's face grows alarmed, and the Avengers redouble their efforts to keep him conscious.

"Maybe this is for the best," he whispers.

He feels the splash of Jane's tears on his face as she holds him, and a sense of peace begins to come over him. "Don't you lie to me, Loki! You promised me that too..."

"Just another regret...so many broken promises." he laughs, weakly. The edges of his vision begin to darken. "This is how I make everything right."

"No..."

* * *

He does not remember when the darkness finally took him, but he wakes to find himself in the throne room back home on Asgard, Thor's worried face looming over him.

"Are you alive, brother?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Where are we?"

They hear a loud clanging sound and both brothers turn to face the throne, where the man, clad in beautiful blue and gold Asgardian armour, sits on Odin's chair. The sound they heard was the scabbard of Odin's sword being flung down the stairs.

"I will not ask a third time, fiend. What do you call yourself?" demands Thor. He holds his hand open and it takes a moment for the shock of its emptiness to register on his face.

"That's right. Your precious hammer isn't here. In fact, unless it pleases me, you will have no access to weapons or magic of any kind for what is about to happen next."

"You are unworthy of our father's throne, remove yourself!" yells Thor again, more aggressively.

The man stands suddenly, and begins to advance upon them, sword drawn. "I have every right to claim that throne. More so than the Frost Giant." He spits out those last words like they are poison on his tongue. "But I have been promised a much bigger prize. One that the two of you idiots are going to help me claim."

Loki gets to his feet, accepting the hand absentmindedly offered by Thor. "You speak of claims and brothers. But you have not yet told us who you are, or what you want with us."

"Both of you have severely disappointed Those Who Sit Above in Shadow. But They are willing to forgive you, given your obvious ignorance. They are willing to accept that this grave transgression belongs solely to the All-Father."

"What has Father to do with this?"

"Hm? Oh, did you never wonder why he was so eager to cast you out? To teach you a lesson about being a King? Hardly. The All-Father never wastes an opportunity to spit in the eyes of the Ancient Ones. He sent you to Earth in the hopes that you would make a choice, that you would choose the wildcard instead of selecting one from the deck we so carefully stacked. Unfortunately for you, that is exactly what you did. And not only that, but you dragged Loki, who is of far, far greater importance, along with you. We need to set this right boys. Father has gone too far this time."

Loki frowns. "There. You've said it again. Father."

"Yes. Father. Your father. My father." He smiles winningly and throws out his arms. "Is the resemblance not uncanny, Loki? You look like the dark-haired spawn of a feeble thing. But we," he gestures towards Thor, "are magnificent. I'm sure if my place had not been so thoroughly usurped by this snake, that Father would indeed have welcomed me with open arms. Ah, but I see you're starting to remember now, aren't you brother?"

Loki turns to Thor, who has a mix of wonder and horror mixed into his expression. "What is it?"

"You are Baldur?"

The man smiles. "Yes."

"But you died as an infant."

"I died because that was my purpose in the universe. To die at the hands of Loki Laufeyson. I only regret that this time around you had to steal what little life was offered to me so early." He advances on Loki, menacingly. "Could you not wait, _brother_? Could you not have shown me the tiniest amount of mercy?"

"I would never..."

"Oh, but you would. You did. You nearly did it twice - or are we forgetting that you sent The Destroyer to kill the brother you, even now, have the gall to stand there and profess to love. Your love is a fickle thing, Loki. But your hate, and your malice? Now that is the only thing you could ever be trusted for."

He moves closer towards Loki, but stops in alarm, as Thor clamps his hand around his throat. "Loki is not the only one who will have killed you. Step back. I will kill you like a warrior. With honour you have never possessed."

Baldur backs away slowly, his hands held up in a gesture of surrender. "Oh, you'll come around brother. You'll see. Blood is thicker than the ice water that runs through his veins. And you may be stronger than me... but this is my world..."

There is a great rumble around them, and a blinding flash of light that causes both Thor and Loki to drop to their knees as they try to shield their eyes. It takes a long time, many minutes pass as they try to get their bearings and pick themselves up, before they are finally able to open their eyes and take stock of their surroundings.

"Do you see him?" asks Thor.

"No."

"Where are we?"

A blast of icy wind stings their exposed flesh, and Loki's heart sinks.

"Jotunheim."


End file.
